Squeaky and Stripes
by Chellerbelle
Summary: Gambit and Rogue have been regressed to physical 13 year olds. What will happen when their powers re-emerge? Can the Guilds ever resolve their differences? And how does the Cure play into all of this? Canon with X1-3 and XO: Wolverine.
1. Prologue

**AN:**

**Disclaimer:** I'm not associated with Marvel whatsoever. Which is a shame, because I'd love to see this in graphic novel form, hahaha.

This is the story where Gambit becomes the sex ed teacher.

* * *

**Prologue:**

It was a good thing that Gambit had spent all those years mastering his poker face, because it was the only thing keeping him from grinning like an idiot at his own funeral. Gambit was rather impressed by the turn out. Not just family and friends, but also Assassins, people he hadn't seen in ages, and a few women he didn't recognise but suspected were former lovers. Bella Donna was even there with her daughter, Mignonette.

Of all the people there, only two others knew that the youth of about thirteen years who stood with the family was not Remy LeBeau's son, but Remy LeBeau himself. One was Jean-Luc LeBeau, for whom this turn of events meant that he would have to pass the Guild leadership to Henri instead of Remy as he planned come his impending retirement. The other was Ororo Monroe, who was posing as the young Remy's guardian.

Gambit listened closely as his brother gave the eulogy, making a mental list of things to comment about to Henri later. He couldn't wait to tease Mercy about crying at his funeral either. Gratified to be sure, but given the way he and his sister-in-law picked on each other he couldn't wait to point out that she would actually miss him if he was really dead. With her were her two children, Sebastien and Aimee.

There was a somber silence as the service drew to a close, and the people attending began to leave, heading car by car to the Wake. Gambit ignored the curious glances many shot in his direction. There would be time enough to deal with that.

* * *

"Jean-Luc," said Bella Donna as she approached, Mignonette at her side. "If I may offer my condolences."

"You may," Jean-Luc replied. "If I thought you actually meant them."

Bella Donna offered him a tight smile, but her eyes fell on the teenage boy with red-on-black eyes at his side.

"So," she said. "This is Remy's boy?"

"A pleasure to meet you madame," Gambit said politely.

He took Bella Donna's hand and kissed it, more out of reflex than intention to flirt. He might be a thirty-nine year old trapped in a thirteen year old body, but he remembered well the times he spent with his former lover.

"A chip off the old block too," Bella Donna said dryly.

"Ahem," Jean-Luc coughed. "Bella, this is mon petit-fils, Remy LeBeau the Second. Remy, this is Bella Donna Boudreaux and her daughter... Mignonette."

"Enchante," Gambit said, taking Mignonette's hand and kissing that too.

Mignonette gave him a smirk and a roll of the eyes that distinctly reminded Gambit of her mother. She had brown hair and eyes though, which said plainly that the girl took after her father, whoever that may have been.

"The Second?" Bella Donna repeated in amusement. "Well, of course Remy would name his son after himself. Typically arrogant of him. I have to admit, Jean-Luc, I was surprised to learn Remy even had a son."

"As was I," Jean-Luc replied. "I thought he was more careful in his affairs than that."

"Indeed."

"Bella Donna, there is no need for the fighting to continue. I know you're still grieving Julien's loss, but he was the one who poisoned mon fils—"

"It was the Cure," Bella Donna snapped. "Not poison."

"As Remy turned out to be amongst the one percent of mutants that suffered side-effects, it may as well have been. It took him weeks to die," Jean-Luc replied coldly. "Remy gave Julien a quick death, which was more than he deserved."

"He had no right to kill our Patriarch."

"And he had no right to attack my heir. There has been quite enough fighting between our Guilds, Bella Donna. I do not care to see it continue into yet another generation."

"I suppose that really depends on Remy and Sebastien," Bella Donna said slyly, looking back down at Gambit. "You boy—just like your cousin—will stay away from my daughter. Is that clear?"

Gambit was silent and made a point of looking Mignonette up an down with a smirk on his face.

"D'accord. I'm not interested anyway," Gambit said. "She looks way too much like she could be my sister."

Mignonette pulled a very unladylike face.

"Remy!" Jean-Luc exclaimed.

"You have a lot of nerve, don't you?" Bella Donna said, frowning at Gambit.

"It runs in the family."

Bella Donna let out an exasperated breath and finally shook her head.

"Sons should not be allowed to be that much like their fathers," she muttered. "He even looks like Remy did at his age, eyes and all. Not even Marcus is that much like Julien."

"It's uncanny, isn't it?" Jean-Luc said mildly.


	2. 39 going on 70

**Chapter 1: 39 going on 70**

"... And then you—" Logan broke off his instruction as the garage door opened. "Hi 'Ro."

"Hi," Rogue added, looking up from under the car hood with Logan.

It had been about a month since Rogue had been Cured. Things with Bobby were still going strong, and she had taken on the role as Logan's assistant. This meant time in the garage to develop her mechanical skills and time in the danger room learning and teaching combat training.

"I've just had word from an old friend of ours, Logan," Storm said. "Remy LeBeau."

"Gumbo? What's he doing now?"

"I don't know, but he's coming here in a couple of days and—"

"Marie," Logan said quickly. "I need you to do me a favour and tell Jubilee and Kitty what I'm about to tell you: When Gumbo gets here, do not let him feed you his lines. He's a womaniser with a silver tongue and flirts with anyone in a skirt."

"Logan," Storm interrupted patiently. "He's not that bad."

"If we're lucky, he'll fawn over Emma," Logan considered. "I know we don't like the way she dresses with all the teenage boys around here, Storm, but it might be enough to distract him. Maybe."

In the wake of Professor Xavier's, Scott's and Jean Grey's deaths, Storm had sought out additional teachers to assist at the school. She had been rather pleased to gain the services of Emma Frost, whose telepathy made her the only one on campus capable of using Cerebro.

"Is he coming here to teach?" Rogue asked curiously.

"No, he's coming here for help," Storm replied.

"What kind of help?" Logan asked.

"I don't know. All he said in his letter was that we'd know when we saw him."

* * *

Two days later Storm received notice that a taxi had arrived with their expected guest. This in itself surprised the weather witch, having expected for Gambit to show up on his motorcycle. Nevertheless, she made her way down to the front door, contacting Logan on the intercom to let him know that their old friend had arrived.

Storm opened up the door and saw a man in a rather familiar looking trench coat and hat. He was hunched over slightly and leaning against the taxi while the driver pulled his bag out for him.

"Merci," Gambit said to the driver.

The driver game Gambit a nod, flicked a glance at Storm, then got back into the taxi. Slowly Gambit turned around and Storm could see he was leaning heavily on his staff, currently at cane-height.

"Remy," she greeted. "It's good to see you."

Gambit looked up, the shadow from the brim of his hat obscuring his face.

"Bonjour Stormy," he said as he lifted his hat from his head. "Long time, no see."

There was something about the way he spoke that gave Storm pause, but that was nothing compared to what she saw when Gambit lifted his hat. His hair was grey and thinned and his face had noticeably aged. She couldn't help but stare.

"Goddess!" Storm exclaimed. "Remy, what on earth happened?"

"Julien happened," Gambit replied grimly. "Now, chère, won't you be a good girl and help an old man with his bag?"

"What do you mean, 'Julien happened'?" Storm demanded even as she walked over and picked up his bag. "How does anything Julien can do make you age thirty years?"

Gambit didn't answer straight away, instead concentrating on making his way through the front door. Logan was there upon his arrival. Logan stared in stunned surprise.

"_Remy?_" he exclaimed.

"Bonjour Logan. I look almost as old as you are," Gambit half-joked.

"I know it hasn't been _that_ long since we last met. What happened?"

"That's what I want to know," Storm said.

"Julien," Gambit said after a cough. "He thought it would be a brilliant idea for me to be Cured. That was three weeks ago."

"Blackmarket?"

"Oui. I've been exhausted ever since. If this is what it's like for normal people, they can keep it. I'd rather have my powers back. I don't suppose you know of a cure for the Cure, chère?"

"We'd have to ask Dr McCoy. Come on," Storm said, taking his free arm. "We'll get you to the med lab."

"I hate labs."

"I know."

"Everything bad that ever happens to me comes out of a freaking lab."

Storm chuckled faintly and she and Logan escorted Gambit down to the med lab. Hank, his head buried in his work almost didn't notice their arrival.

"Hank?" Storm said.

"Oh!" Hank exclaimed, momentarily startled, then turned to look at them.

"Sorry, Hank. Didn't mean to disturb your concentration."

"Quite all right, Ororo," Hank replied as he got up. "I presume that this is the friend whose presence you were expecting?"

"Yes. Hank, this is Remy LeBeau, also known as Gambit. Remy, this is Dr McCoy."

"You can call me Hank," he said, holding his hand out.

"Remy's fine," Gambit replied.

He explained about what happened with being Cured.

"Oh my stars and garters," Hank said after he heard the story. "I did hear that about one percent of mutant have suffered side-effects from being Cured, but I don't believe I've heard of any cases involving rapid aging. I will, of course, investigate the matter immediately. I will need to conduct a few tests."

"Of course you will," Gambit said resignedly.

"Remy hates hospitals," Storm explained.

"You would too if you'd been experimented on."

"I have to say on another matter I am much relieved," Hank went on. "After Logan went around, ahem, 'advising' all the women eighteen and over about your impending arrival I was expecting someone much younger in appearance."

Gambit laughed.

"A little worried about me, Logan?" Gambit asked.

"We have too many impressionable girls around here, and I don't care to see any of them taken advantage of."

"You wound me. I never did anything to a women she didn't want me to."

"At least now we know as long as we keep the Viagra away from you, there won't be a problem here."

"Ahem," Hank coughed. "Perhaps if you would like to move into the next room we can—"

Hank was cut off by the lift doors opening again. Rogue was there with one of the students supported under her arm.

"Oh my," said Hank. "What's happened here?"

"A little too much enthusiasm in the gym," Rogue reported. "Ankle."

"I see. Why don't you and Ray go to room number three? I'll be with you shortly."

"Okay."

Gambit watched appreciatively as Rogue led Ray to the other room.

"Please tell me she's the nurse," Gambit said.

Hank coughed uncomfortably.

"No," Logan said tersely. "She's my assistant."

"_Personal_ assistant?" Gambit asked suggestively.

"It's nice to know _some_ things haven't changed," Storm said dryly.

* * *

Ray's twisted ankle was nothing compared with Gambit's condition. Hank ran numerous tests and conversed with others on the subject but the verdict was dire indeed.

"Give it to me straight, Hank," Gambit said. "Am I going to die here?"

"Unless we discover a means by which we can restore your aging process to its natural pace, then yes. At your current rate of aging your body is likely to reach the physical age of a centenarian in three weeks. I can only assume that your body was relying on the extra bio-kinetic energy your mutation provided. Most of the other mutants who have suffered side-effects from the Cure all dependant on their mutation for daily survival."

"So, if Logan were to ever get Cured, he'd be a dead man?"

"Most likely, I'm afraid. Fortunately, the scientists are no longer in a position to make any more of that particular drug."

"May it forever stay that way," Gambit replied with a sigh.

"Would you like to contact your family?"

"No, no. If I'm going to go, I don't want them to remember me like this," Gambit said firmly. "I've already said my goodbyes."

"I am most sorry, Remy. Be assured I am doing everything I can."

"I appreciate that. Oh well, at least I still have my hair, right?"

* * *

"Well, well, well," came Emma's smug voice. "If it isn't the infamous Remy LeBeau. Or should I say Gambit?"

"Emma," Gambit replied pleasantly. "You're looking skanky as always."

"And you're looking better than usual."

"Really? I had no idea you were into geriatrics."

Emma sauntered over to his beside and smirked down at him.

"You know, Remy," she said, practically purring. "I never did forgive you for escaping Stryker's Island and not taking the rest of us with you. They increased security after you left."

"I know. You remind me every time we cross paths," Gambit replied. "Just like I always remind you that I was a scared kid who was too terrified of having to endure another surgical procedure again. No anaesthetic, Emma!"

"It runs right though you, blah, blah, blah," Emma dismissed. "It hurts like hell, whine, whine, whine. I've heard it all before."

"We've had this conversation a million times. Fact is, even if I wanted to there would have been no way for me to rescue all of you. Besides, you were all so convinced that your dear sister had matters in hand."

"Mmmhmm. So, Remy, would you like me to put you out of your misery?"

"Emma! You're not offering to do a strip tease are you? And here I was thinking you didn't like me."

"Maybe I should. It's not like you could do anything about it."

"Just because I look seventy and sleep half the day doesn't mean I can't still give you the time of your life."

"You look like you'd die from heart failure if you tried."

"Perhaps, but what a way to go. It might look nice on my tombstone too: 'It was the sex that killed him'."

* * *

"Thirty-nine?" Jubilee repeated. "Seriously?"

Rogue nodded.

"According to Logan, yep," Rogue confirmed. "I know, he looks more like a hundred."

"I wish I could have see the look on Logan's face," Kitty giggled. "After he went around telling us we had to be careful not to fall for his charms when he came here and he's like... Okay, I'm sure if I was his, umm, 'age' I wouldn't think of it as a big deal, but seriously, so not attracted to elderly men."

"Glad to hear it," said Pete.

"Even thirty-nine is too old for me," Jubilee said. "He's old enough to be my dad."

"Right now he looks enough enough to be your granddad," Rogue grinned.

"Totally."

"Still, y'know, gotta be hard on him," Bobby said. "I mean, Marie, don't you ever think maybe that could have happened to you?"

The table was silent while all eyes fell on Rogue.

"Yeah," she drawled. "They weren't exactly very explicit on the side-effects were they?"

"I just feel bad about the whole thing," Warren said. "If it weren't for me—"

"Warren, we've been through this," Jubilee said firmly. "Your dad made his own decisions. Just like Magneto made his, the government made theirs, and Rogue made hers. And so did this Julien guy."

"Yeah, but the Cure was only intended to neutralise mutant powers," Rogue pointed out quietly. "Not kill people."

* * *

The discussion with her friends certainly hit home with Rogue. She had trouble sleeping and decided to go for a general walk around. She was halfway to the med lab before she realised where she was going. She considered turning back, but then the lift doors opened and she figured she may as well.

Rogue quietly moved to Gambit's door and looked inside. He was lying under the covers, fast asleep, while the machines hummed a lot quieter than they would in an actual hospital.

"You may as well come in," he said.

Rogue jumped slightly.

"Oh, ahh, sorry," she stammered. "I didn't mean to disturb you."

"Nah, I was already awake. Well? You coming in or not?"

Rogue laughed nervously but walked over to his bedside. He smiled at her.

"Can't say I expected to get any late night visits from belle femmes while I was here."

"I couldn't sleep."

"I'm not complaining. You're Logan's personal assistant, right?"

"Yeah. I'm Marie. You're Remy?"

"Oui. So, you couldn't sleep and your wanderings just happened to bring you to my door? I bet Logan would love to hear that."

Rogue laughed softly.

"He built you up so much he got us girls all curious."

"Oh, so curiosity brings you here. Come to stare at the old guy?"

"Oh, well, I, uhh..."

"Relax, I'm just teasing you."

"It's just I... I got the Cure."

For a moment Gambit was silent.

"Afraid of what might have happened to you?" he asked.

"I guess. I'm sorry. I'll go now—"

"No, stay," Gambit insisted. "You have sparked my curiosity. Why'd you get the Cure?"

"I couldn't touch anyone without hurting them. Any skin to skin contact and I'd suck out their life force. I nearly killed Logan once. Twice, actually. Couldn't even kiss my own boyfriend..." Rogue shook her head and sighed. "So, yeah. I wanted to be able to touch people."

"Especially boyfriend?" Gambit teased.

"Especially boyfriend," Rogue smiled. "I think... I think Bobby feels a little guilty about it. He thinks—and so do a few other people—that I did it just for his sake. And sure, Bobby was kinda on the top of the list but he sure wasn't the only thing on that list."

"'Course not. Well, at least the Cure did something good for someone, no?"

"Yeah... I'm sorry."

"Stop apologising."

"It's just... y'know... You didn't have a say in getting Cured or not and look what's happened to you. I guess I'm a little surprised you don't think I'm a traitor or something."

"Do some people think you're a traitor, chère?"

"A couple. I usually ignore them though."

"Good for you. Your mutation sounds like my personal hell."

Rogue laughed softly and Gambit grinned at her.

"So," he asked. "What do you do for Logan anyway?"

"Well, we kinda lost half our teaching staff in one fell swoop so Logan's taken over training and mechanics. I'm helping him with that. Sometimes I feel like I'm not much further ahead than the other students," Rogue chuckled. "But I take on a lot of the younger students so that Logan doesn't have to deal with them. He says teaching's a good way to learn too, so yeah."

"Is at that," Gambit agreed. "So, no personal secretary, taking calls, sitting on the desk flaunting your sexy legs for him?"

"Umm, no."

"Damn. I was hoping to get more ammunition to tease him with."

"I don't think that teasing Logan about his love life right now is such a good idea," Rogue said. "He recently had to kill the woman he was in love with."

"Quoi? Do tell."

"Jean... had a split personality who had homicidal tendencies. Unfortunately, she was also a class five and could actually do the mass murder thing and Logan was the only one who could actually get to her so..."

"Hmm. Thanks for the warning. Note to self: make insinuations about him and Stormy."

"Stormy?"

"They're going to hate me. It'll be fun."

"I'm sorry... Are you going to deliberately try to annoy them?"

"Oui. Trust me, if I don't they'll think something's wrong."

"But, something _is_ wrong."

"They don't need to know that."

"I think they already do. Isn't that why you came here?"

"Perhaps I'm just trying to lure them into a false sense of security."

"Oh I see. The whole rapid aging thing is just a part of your diabolical evil scheme."

"You know too much."

"Does this mean you're going to have to kill me now?"

"Either that or make you a co-conspirator."

"Oh, well, given the choice between death or conspiracy, I think I'll have to go with the latter."

"Bon. I can be the brains and yo' can be the brawn. I don't have too much brawn at the moment."

"I noticed."

"I have brawn where it counts though."

"Would that be the same place you keep your brains? Because if so, I think your plans are in trouble."

Gambit laughed heartily.

"I like you, fille," he said. "Now if I was just twenty... okay fifty years younger, your boyfriend wouldn't stand a chance."

"Oh really?" Rogue drawled.

"Really. Believe it or not chère, I have inspired many cat fights between femmes who just couldn't wait to get their paws on me."

"Uh huh."

"Seriously. The last one was only a month ago. Don't grin at me like that."

"Sorry but that sounds like something a dad or granddad might say: 'Back in my day I was quite the stud.' It's right up there with: 'Back in my day we had to walk three miles to get to school, up hill both ways and in the snow.'"

"Never in my life did I ever think I'd have this conversation," Gambit muttered.

Rogue chuckled and Gambit twisted slightly to retrieve his wallet.

"Gonna show me a picture of you in your younger years?" she teased. "Wait... you carry around a picture of yourself?"

"Ha, funny. It's a family photo that has me in it," Gambit replied.

He opened his wallet and showed her the photo inside. There was an elderly gentleman sitting down in a lounge chair. To his left was a little blonde girl and to his right a slightly older boy with black hair. Behind the girl there was a blonde woman who was clearly the girl's mother. To her right and behind the chair was a black haired man. To the right of the man and behind the boy was another man who was clearly Gambit, looking far younger than he was right now.

"Oh, so this guy is you?" Rogue asked, pointing to the man sitting down.

"No, that's mon père, smarty pants. He doesn't look a thing like me either."

"Took after your mother?"

"Adopted."

"Oh."

"That's me."

"You've really let yourself go, haven't you?"

"Dat's mon frère, Henri, his wife Mercy and their kids Sebastien and Aimee."

"Cute kids."

"This was taken at a Christmas party about...trois years ago? So they're noticeably older now. I think Seb's grown at least a foot since then," Gambit said, a tinge of sadness in his voice.

"Really? What does he need a third foot for?" Rogue asked.

"What do you need that smart mouth of yours for?"

"Putting up with folks like you."

"Do you give Logan this much lip?"

"You kidding? He was the one who taught me."

"And so the student surpasses the teacher."

"I'm a fast learner."

"I just bet you are," Gambit said with a yawn. "Merde. I'm fed up with being tired all the time. Used to be able to get by on four hours of sleep a night and now I'm sleeping half the freaking day. Désolé, you don't need to hear my complaints."

"If you want me to keep you up, I could borrow Bobby's Annoy-a-tron."

"His what?"

"Annoy-a-tron," Rogue nodded. "You hide it somewhere and it beeps at irregular intervals. Bobby got it off the internet and was driving everyone nuts with it. Especially this one time when he hid it in the control room for the danger room. It drove Logan nuts. Of course, being Logan, he did end up slicing it up into itty bitty pieces, but that was just incentive for Bobby to buy another one."

Gambit laughed.

"I like it."

"Anyway, I'll let you sleep now," Rogue said. "I might even see if I can finally get some shut-eye."

"You will come visit me again, won't you?" Gambit asked. "I'm sure that Hank is a very good doctor, but he hasn't got much of a pretty face like you."

"I'm sure I can do that," she replied, walking towards the door.

"Bon. Oh and Marie?"

"Yeah?" she asked, stopping and turning to look back at him.

"Do you think you could so something about the decor in here? I've never actually checked myself into one of these places before and I think my reward should be that the room doesn't look so hospital-like."

"I think I can arrange something."

She was almost at the door when Gambit called her again.

"Can I get a kiss good night?"

"Did you want me to tuck you in and read you a bedtime story too?"

"... Oui."

"Good night, Remy."

"Good night, Marie."


	3. A Rude Surprise

**Chapter 2: A Rude Surprise**

The garage door practically flew open and Rogue looked up from the engine with a start as the door banged against the wall.

"Logan?"

"Did you visit the Cajun last night?" he demanded.

"Umm, yeah... Is that a problem?"

"What happened?"

"Well, nothing really. We just talked."

Logan let out an explosive breath.

"To hear him talk, it was the beginning of a sordid love affair."

"He flirted with me a bit and asked me for a kiss good night—which I didn't give him. That's about as 'sordid' as it got."

"I knew he was exaggerating, but I wasn't sure by how much," Logan said, shaking his head. "Why were you visiting him anyway?"

"Couldn't sleep. Got to thinking maybe what happened to Remy could have happened to me," Rogue replied with a shrug. "Morbid curiosity, I guess. Why? What was he saying?"

"Anything he could think of to annoy me. And it was working."

Rogue giggled.

"I can tell," she said. "Hey umm, I kinda agreed to go back and visit him again. That's not going to be a problem is it?"

"Under normal circumstances, yes," Logan replied. "And I would go back and kick his butt for extracting such promises from you."

Rogue laughed.

"But the fact of the matter is," Logan went on soberly, "Hank doesn't think that he's going to be able to find a solution in time. There isn't exactly a whole lot of enthusiasm for finding a cure for the Cure, nor much development on the 'fountain of youth' front either."

"Hank needs time and Remy doesn't have any, huh?"

"Pretty much. I won't begrudge you visiting him, but don't let him get away with anything. And if he makes you uncomfortable don't hesitate to thump him." Logan paused. "On second thoughts, he might enjoy that coming from you. Tell me and I'll thump him. He definitely won't enjoy that."

Rogue laughed.

* * *

Gambit woke after another one of those cat naps he so despised. His eyes opened briefly, shut and then flew wide open again. A grin spread across his face as he looked around his room. Directly in the wall in front was a large canvas with a picture of some kind of park with kids playing on the play equipment. Off to the side was a table covered with a red table cloth and a vase of flowers. What really amused him, however, was the backdrop of a living room behind it.

The next thing to catch his attention was a note sitting on his bedside table. Gambit reached over to pick up it and after taking a moment to adjust the distance (great, his eyesight was going too) he read the message inside:

_Aww didn't you just look sooooo cute sleeping?  
I was so sure the noise of us moving all this stuff  
in here would wake you up, but no, you stuck  
to your guns and kept right on sleeping.  
So adorable.  
I'll come back later and see how you're doing.  
- Marie  
PS: You snore_

Gambit chuckled to himself.

"I see you're awake," Storm said as she entered the room.

"Stormy," Gambit greeted cheerfully. "I have to say, I love what's been done with the place."

"I had a feeling you might," Storm said. "It was all Rogue's doing—"

"Rogue?"

"Sorry, I meant Marie. Anyway, she was the one who raided the drama group supplies room and talked Pete into letting her borrow one of his paintings."

"Pete?"

"He's one of our X-men, and as you can see, quite the talented artist," Storm said, pointing to the painting. "That's the view from one of the balconies upstairs."

"Nice work. You have a drama group, do you?"

"In a manner of speaking. It's really just a group of the students who thinks it's fun to put a play on occasionally. Last time they performed a very... strange version of Cinderella."

"Let me guess, points for enthusiasm?"

"Indeed."

* * *

"Should I be jealous?" Bobby asked jokingly.

"Hardly," Rogue replied dryly. "You have your whole life ahead of you. His is coming to a premature end."

Bobby paused.

"You know," he said. "You're not supposed to take all the fun out of it for me like that."

Rogue snickered.

"By the way," she said. "Can I borrow your Annoy-a-tron?"

"Sure. Why?"

"I told him about it. I thought I might try using it on him."

"You're so mean. I approve."

"I thought you might."

"I think I should go through my gags and see what else you can use on him."

Rogue giggled.

"Just nothing that might inspire a heart attack, okay?" she said.

"I promise I will run everything by Hank first."

"No doubt over a plate of Twinkies."

"But of course!"

* * *

"You!" Gambit said, pointing accusingly as Rogue walked through the door a couple of days later.

"Evening sugar," she replied, grinning broadly.

"You hid that Annoy-a-tron thing in here didn't you?"

"Maybe."

"Yeah, well, it's been—"

"Annoying you?"

"—four hours. And Hank won't let me out of the bed."

Rogue giggled.

"Aww, I bet you can still find it."

Gambit glared at her. Rogue giggled, unstuck the beeping device from the side of the bed and turned it off.

"Cruel, cruel girl you are to an old man," he said.

"I'm sorry, but you're far too wrinkled for that pathetic look to have any effect on me."

"I don't point out your flaws."

"That's because I don't have any."

"Well," Gambit considered. "True. I guess I can't argue with that."

Rogue laughed. She pretended not to notice one of the last of his brown hairs turn white before her eyes and kept the smile on her face.

"It wouldn't be polite to argue with a lady anyway," she said.

"Oui, but I'm not talking to a lady, chère, I'm talking to you."

"I can turn this thing back on again if you want."

"See? A real lady wouldn't resort to threats."

"Yeah? And what do you think a real lady would do, since you're the expert?"

"Bitch and moan behind my back, of course."

"Nah, that's for whiners. Like people who get uppity about a harmless, little beeping machine."

"You're just asking for trouble, aren't you?"

"Whatcha gonna do about it? Poke me with your walking cane?"

"It's a staff."

"Of course it is. Been watching _Lord of the Rings_ lately Gandalf? Or did you sleep through it?"

"Why? Are you offering to have a marathon with me?"

"Did you want to have a slumber party?"

"Sure, why not? I've been trying to figure out how I can fit in a midlife crisis before it's too late."

Rogue laughed.

"A midlife crisis?" she repeated.

"Oui. I've been riding motorcycles since I was a teenager, so obviously I can't do that."

"Oh, well, you should get a new car then. A convertible."

"Red, of course."

"Naturally."

"And I need to dye my hair back to brown."

"Well, we'd have to do your beard and eyebrows as well, or it'll look funny."

"Sounds fine by me. The only other thing I've thought of to recapture my youth is to start dating a younger woman."

"I was wondering where you were going with this. Sorry, Remy, but I just don't have any single girl friends who might be interested."

"I don't suppose you would consider having a fling with me?"

"I'm seeing someone and you know that perfectly well."

"We don't need to tell him."

"Uh huh. No," Rogue said shortly.

"You're a good girl, Marie," Gambit said mildly. "To be honest, I think I would have thought less of you if you had actually agreed."

Rogue gave him a faint smile and then picked up a book.

"So," she said. "You ready for your bed time story?"

Gambit laughed.

"What are we reading?"

"_The Little Engine That Could_," Rogue replied cheerfully as she opened up the children's story book to the right page. "And if you're a good boy, I'll even read you a story out of this book every night."

"I don't know how to be a good boy. I only know how to be a bad boy. A _bad_, bad boy."

"You'll just have to learn, then, won't you?"

* * *

After luring Gambit to sleep, Rogue joined her friends in the rec room. With a grin, she handed the Annoy-a-tron back to Bobby.

"Thanks, sugar," she said.

"How'd it go?"

"Suitably annoyed him."

"Oh good."

"You're so mean," said Kitty with a grin. "He's dying and you're picking on him."

"He enjoys it," Rogue replied. "And I think he likes it when I turn him down every time he flirts with me too."

"Do you think he'd enjoy it if I went down there and had words with him about flirting with my girlfriend?" Bobby asked.

Rogue considered.

"Actually yeah," she decided. "I think he probably would. In fact, you should absolutely do that tomorrow."

Bobby chuckled.

"Okay, I will," he said. "I should think of a really good speech. Let's see, how should I begin? Hey you, stay away from my woman?"

"You realise if you start with that, he's just going to point out that I always go to him?"

"So?"

"Good point."

Rogue, Bobby, Kitty, Jubilee, Pete and Warren continued to chatter and play until they decided to retire for the night. They headed off to the teacher's wing where their rooms had moved since graduating. Bobby and Rogue stopped outside of her door.

"Night Marie," Bobby said.

"Night, Bobby," Rogue replied.

They leaned in together and their lips met in what should have been a brief kiss good night. Instead Rogue felt a rush as a downpour of Bobby flooded into her. She tried to pull away but it was almost like their lips were stuck together with superglue. Then she felt hands on her clothed upper arms and she was pulled free. Warren was behind her, and Pete was holding a slumping Bobby in his arms.

"No," Rogue said shaking her head. "No!"

* * *

Logan looked through the blinds into one of the rooms in the med lab. Rogue was sitting on the bed in the foetal position, rocking back and forth and singing nursery rhymes to herself. There were piles of tear-shaped ice blocks about the place and the bed was partially iced over. He sighed and turned back to Hank.

"She's not the only one," Hank said. "I've been receiving reports all morning. Cured mutants everywhere are getting their powers back. It's been a terrible shock to Marie."

"Evidently," Logan grumbled. "She still got Drake's powers?"

"Yes," Hank confirmed.

"And Bobby?" Storm asked.

"Still comatose. According to Warren, they weren't touching for very long. According to Rogue, she couldn't let go."

"A good thing the others were still around to pull Bobby off then," Storm said.

"Indeed. According to the tests I've run, her powers are currently operating at an accelerated rate, possibly making up for lost time. It's too early to say whether this acceleration is going to be permanent or not."

"Keeping her down in the med lab?" Logan asked.

"For now, yes," Hank replied. "On the other hand, this is good news for Remy. Although he didn't actually get Cured until a few days after Alcatraz, this should solve the rapid aging problem."

"But he's going to be stuck in the body of a what? An eighty year old? Ninety by the time the Cure wears off?" Storm asked.

Hank shook his head and sighed.

"I'm afraid there's not a whole lot I can do about that, Ororo," he said. "If it makes you feel any better he'll be healthier than most people of his physical age. His mind is still perfectly whole too."

* * *

Rogue didn't even look up when the door opened, so she didn't see Hank pushing Gambit inside in a wheelchair.

"Marie?" said Hank gently. "You have a visitor. He insisted on seeing you."

"And Hank here insisted on wheeling me in like some sort of invalid," Gambit added.

"Remy—"

"I know, I know, you don't want me walking around while the aging thing is going on in case my mind can't keep up with my body and I fall and break something like a hip, blah, blah, blah. So, Marie, love what you've done with the place. Very North Pole. Almost expect to see some reindeer."

Rogue made a sound that was somewhere between a laugh and a sob. Hank moved Gambit to Rogue's bedside.

"I'll just leave you two be," said Hank. "Call me if you need me."

Hank turned and departed. Gambit studied Rogue for a minute after the door closed.

"Need more red," he said.

"Huh?"

"To make this place more North Pole-like. Needs more red in here. And maybe an elf or two. And a polar bear."

Rogue giggled.

"I don't think a polar bear will fit."

"Don't know unless we try."

Rogue smiled for a moment. Gambit reached out with a gloved hand and took hers in his. Rogue stared down at them.

"So I figure I've complained to you often enough, why don't you tell Grandpa all about it?"

Rogue giggled again and wiped her eyes with her free hand. For a moment she didn't say anything.

"He was just kissing me good night," she said finally. "I'd been touching people all day and my powers chose that moment to come back. It all happened so fast and I... I... I couldn't let go. Pete and Warren had to break us apart and... and..."

Rogue broke off and Gambit rubbed his fingers gently over her hand. He didn't say anything, only waited for her to continue on her own.

"He's so loud, Remy. He keeps trying to tell me it's okay and he knows I didn't mean it and that no one could have expected this but he's so _loud_ and I can't get him out of my head and I still have his powers... I've never held onto someone powers this long before."

Rogue pulled her hand from Gambit's, buried her head between her knees and pressed her hands against the back of her neck.

"I just want it all to go away. I just want the nightmare to be over."

"Oui. So do I."

"What nightmare? You're going to be _fine_," Rogue practically spat. "The Cure's wearing off."

"So? I'll be stuck in the body of a ninety year old man," Gambit pointed out. "I'll have lost _fifty years_ of my life. Cure wearing off? Feels more like delaying the inevitable right now."

Rogue was silent.

"Don't get me wrong. I know that plenty of people can still continue to live a comfortable lifestyle, even past a hundred, but I'd rather get there the conventional way. But I'm not going to get that time back, and you're back to not being able to touch people. We both got screwed over," Gambit paused, considered, then held up the book of children's stories. "Sleeping Beauty?"

Rogue slowly lifted her head and looked at Gambit with tear-stained cheeks and the faintest hint of a smile on her face.

"Sure," she said.

"Bon," Gambit said, opening up the book. "I like this book. It has big writing."

Rogue laughed softly.

"Damn eyesight going," Gambit went on, adjusting the distance so he could actually read it. "I feel like mon père, except he actually has glasses. Now, let's see. Once upon a time..."

* * *

Rogue tapped lightly at the open door of the room in the med lab where Bobby was lying. Hank looked up from checking up on him.

"I see you're up," Hank said quietly.

"How is he?"

"Resting comfortably. And yourself?"

"Well," Rogue said with a forced laugh. "I'm not freezing everything all the time now. I mean, I still have his powers and his voice is still loud in my head—loud enough that I can't even tell if my other voices have come back yet and now I'm just rambling and I'm sorry—"

"It's perfectly all right, Marie," Hank said. "You've had a terrible shock. Bobby's going to be just fine."

"But... but you don't know how long he's going to be in a coma for, or how long I'm going to have his powers or—"

"These questions will be answered in time. Logan was comatose for a couple of days after the Ellis Island incident and didn't you yourself say that when your powers manifested the first time that the boy in question was in a coma for three weeks?"

Rogue took a deep breath and nodded.

"So, I'd day aside from the fact that you appear to have Bobby's powers for an extended period of time that all is progressing within expected parameters. We'll conduct another round of tests on your mutation tomorrow as well to see if it's settling down yet, although it may be awhile before we can get conclusive results on that matter. If you're feeling up to it, I don't see any reason why you can't return to your own room—"

"No, I... thanks for the offer, Hank, but I think I'd be more comfortable down here a little longer. If you don't mind. Bobby's powers and all."

"Of course," Hank paused, considering, then closed the distance between them and took Rogue's gloved hands in his. "I've been meaning to thank you, actually."

"Thank me? For what?"

"For taking the time to visit Remy. I know that your visits have meant a great deal to him."

"Oh, well, I... It just felt like it was, y'know, the least I could do."

Hank nodded.

"And it's much appreciated," he said firmly. "I know Logan and Storm are his friends, and of course, he likes their visits too, but the nature of them was different. With Logan and Storm there's a good deal of reminiscing, but you and Remy don't know each other and I suspect that just getting to know a new person is good for him. The pranks were a nice touch too."

Rogue giggled.

"I admit," Hank said with a grin. "I was dubious at first, but they've kept him much more mentally stimulated than TV or anything else we've come up with.

"Well, I'm glad I could help."

"And you have. You are the anti-thesis of Emma Frost, which reminds me, we should arrange a session with Emma for you."

"My powers?"

"Yes."

"Okay. What do you mean, the anti-thesis of Emma?"

"Oh... I probably shouldn't have said that," Hank paused for a moment, then continued: "They... argued every time she visited him and I had to forbid her from seeing him. It turned out that they had both been held by Stryker at the same time, except that Remy escaped and chose not to do anything for his fellow prisoners. From what I understand this had been the foundation of their relationship and has coloured their interactions ever since, which I gathered have all ended badly, thus fuelling the resentment between them."

"Ahh, I see."

"At least when you make fun of him, you don't actually mean it."

Rogue giggled.


	4. Burning For You

**Chapter 3: Burning For You**

"Hey," Rogue said, peering into Gambit's room.

"Well, good morning Marie," Gambit replied. "What's the big grin for?"

"I don't have Bobby's powers any more," Rogue said smugly. "I woke up this morning and his voice had faded to a far more sensible volume and his powers were gone. Yay me."

"Congratulations."

"Anyway, I can't really hang around and chat. I need to be getting back to work today. No more excuses to hang out down here."

"Shame," Gambit teased.

"I'll see you tonight?"

"If you want. You have been down here four days though, chère. I think your friends might be missing you just a bit."

"Maybe, maybe," Rogue joked. "Actually, to be honest, I'm a little afraid about going back up there."

"Because your powers have come back?"

"Yeah. I don't really know how to face 'em."

Rogue looked down at the floor and scrubbed her gloved hands together.

"With your head up high, chère," Gambit advised. "What happened was an accident. You didn't do anything wrong and you have nothing to be ashamed of."

Rogue smiled at him faintly.

"Thanks Remy," she said softly.

"Any time."

"Oh, and umm, I've decided to go back to using 'Rogue' now."

"Okay Roguey."

"Rogue, not Roguey."

"Okay Roguey."

* * *

"You've emerged!" Jubilee exclaimed.

"Yep," Rogue replied.

"Yay! We thought we'd lost you to the abyss that is the med lab."

"Not quite."

"Any updates on Bobby?" asked Pete.

"Still in a coma," Rogue replied. "But on the bright side, I don't have his powers any more. It only took four whole days for them to go away."

"Wow, that's a record isn't it?" Kitty asked.

"And then some."

"So, back to normal today?"

"Yeah. Well, except that I have a meeting with Emma this morning."

"Have fun with that."

* * *

"Oh good, you're here," said Emma primly when Rogue arrived at her door.

"Hi," Rogue said tentatively. "Thanks for seeing me."

"Have a seat, dear."

Rogue sat down at the indicated chair, her hands neatly folded in her lap.

"Now, I've been going over Professor Xavier's notes, and he's got plenty of—and contradictory—theories about your lack of power control, ranging from the psychological to the physical. This morning I'm just going to have a look to see how things are."

"Okay."

* * *

A couple of days later, Logan was woken an hour earlier than usual by a buzzing noise.

"Logan! I need you down here right now," was Hank's harried call. "It's Remy."

Stopping only for as long as it took to dress, Logan hurried down to the med lab. Hank was at Gambit's side, attempting to hold Gambit down on the bed as he buckled and writhed. Logan could smell blood too.

"What's going on?" Logan demanded.

"I wish I knew," Hank replied. "I can only assume his powers are coming back but he keeps tearing at himself. Mind holding him down while I get the restraints? I tried giving him a sedative but—"

"If his powers are coming back it's not going to work," Logan replied, taking over holding Gambit's arms down. "His power enhances his metabolism, amongst other things."

"It would have been nice if I'd known that before," Hank muttered as he retrieved the restraints from the drawer.

"Make sure those things are secure. Remy's a regular Houdini."

"Burning," Gambit muttered hoarsely. "Burning."

"That's all he's been saying," Hank said. "I'd like to get him to the examination room. He appears to be feverish on top of everything else."

"Yeah, I think high body temperature's normal for him too."

"Is there anything else about his powers I should know about?" Hank asked with a sigh.

"If you see anything glowing pink—sorry _magenta_," Logan said with a forced grin at Gambit, "either throw it away, or run."

"Duly noted."

"How long has been been like this?"

"I shudder to think," Hank replied. "He was like this when I arrived—the call alarm in my room appears to have developed a fault."

"Have to get that looked at."

"And soon."

* * *

Rogue headed down to the med lab to visit Bobby and Gambit. It was oddly quiet when she arrived, but she paid it no mind and headed into Bobby's room.

"Hi sugar," she said softly as she sat down by his bedside. "Still asleep I see. Sorry about that. Yeah, okay I know I say that every time but yeah. Anyway, just got out of another session with Emma. I don't think she's nearly as nice as Prof X was. And she's completely dissed my friendship with Remy too. But right now she's the only telepath here so... for lack of any other solutions right now she's my best bet at learning to control my power so I'm trying to learn to deal with her. That's the problem with telepaths; they know when you don't like them."

She continued to chatter on for another few minutes, discussing what had happened since her last visit, and finally dissolved into silence. Time passed and Rogue eventually got up. She peered into Gambit's room, but as he wasn't in there she made her way down to the examination room and Hank's office. There she found Gambit with a gas mask fitted over his face and Hank asleep at his desk.

"Dr McCoy? Hank?" Rogue called.

"Hmm?" Hank mumbled moving slightly. "What?"

"Is something wrong with Remy?"

Hank sat up from his desk, frowning as he attempted to remember what he was doing there.

"Oh..." he said. "Yes... Remy's powers started coming back last night."

"Well, that's good," Rogue said, then paused. "Right?"

Hank shook his head, attempting to get his thoughts together.

"For some reason they appear to be subjecting him to a great deal of pain. Logan believes that Remy has a high pain tolerance and was deeply concerned by his condition early this morning, and I quote; 'It must be bad if Gumbo's whimpering like a little girl'."

Rogue tried not to laugh.

"Just like when your power came back, his is also accelerated. In fact, the activity level is off the scale," Hank went on. "I wish I had a chance to examine him pre-Cure for a comparison."

"Some Cure that turned out to be," Rogue muttered. "So, I'm guessing you have him sedated."

"Yes. We've had to use gas, I'm afraid. The injections weren't enough."

"I see."

"Power-induced high metabolism."

"Ahh."

"I don't believe they had any effect at all."

"What else?"

"Excuse me?"

"You have this concerned look on your face that tells me there's something else to worry about here."

"Ahh, well, I only have so much gas sedative. By my calculations there's enough to last another seven or eight hours. Unfortunately, it's the weekend so I can't even order any more until Monday, and if his power takes as long as yours is to settle down—"

"That's a long time."

"Indeed."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"I'll let you know," Hank replied, considered and then added: "Perhaps, if you wouldn't mind being here when he wakes up?"

"Sure thing."

* * *

Rogue returned to the med lab when she received word from Hank that the sedative was running low. Storm and Logan were already there when she arrived and while they talked, Rogue sat down by Gambit's side. He was still in the examination room as Hank wanted to keep a close eye on Gambit's mutation. She was there for about fifteen minutes before the gas finally ran out and a couple of minutes later, Gambit awoke with a groan.

"Hey, Rogue said softly, seeing his eyes open.

Gambit mumbled something in reply and closed his eyes again. Rogue noted the way his face crinkled up and saw his hands clench and unclench reflectively. She took hold of his nearest hand and was surprised by the strength of his grip. Sweat was forming on his forehead. Rogue chewed her lip and then looked back towards Hank, Storm and Logan.

"He's awake," she reported.

The three immediately moved to his side.

"Remy? How are you feeling?" Hank asked. "Is it burning still?"

"Oui," Gambit's reply was barely audible.

"Listen, your powers are coming back, but like Rogue's they're running at an accelerated rate."

"Make... make it stop."

"I'm afraid there is no gas left, and I won't be able to acquire any more for another two days."

"We're going to get you through this," Storm said firmly. "You're going to get through this."

Gambit didn't answer. His breathing was erratic and he struggled remarkably against the restraints. Rogue gasped as the grip on her hand tightened, feeling like he was going to break her fingers, but said nothing in complaint. Hank rubbed his forehead, at a loss of what to do. He had tried to contact his supplier out of hours with no success, and contact with his colleagues on the subject had brought no results.

"Make it stop," Gambit said.

"M-maybe I should absorb him," Rogue said tentatively.

"Absolutely not," Logan said. "It's his powers doing this to him. They'll do the same thing to you too. And Drake's powers didn't wear off for four days."

"I wouldn't touch him for very long," Rogue pointed out. "If I can't let go myself, then I've got three of you there to pull me off. Besides, Hank, didn't you say my powers are no longer running as fast as they were?"

"Yes, but they're by no means at the level they were."

"I only need to touch him for a second," Rogue said firmly. "If we can knock him out for the weekend that'll give him some peace until you can get more gas."

"The sedative injections won't work on you any more than it will on Gumbo," Logan said. "And it'll all be redundant if you're stuck with his powers all weekend."

"What's the point of having this stupid power if I don't use it?"

"Rogue," Storm said patiently, then turned to Hank. "Is it possible for you to calculate how long Rogue'll have Remy's powers for?"

"Actually, I've been working on a program to determine that exact information," Hank replied and he turned to the nearest computer to access it.

"You're not seriously considering this," Logan demanded.

"Rogue knows what the risks are," Storm replied. "If she's prepared to deal with it, and the time for Rogue having Gambit's powers is within a reasonable time frame, then I don't see any reason why we should deny her request to help."

"Yeah? Can he calculate how long Remy'll be comatose for? What about Drake?" Logan snapped. "Sorry, Rogue. I get that you want to help but I'm not—"

"Two months," Hank said.

"What?"

"Based on Rogue's absorptions pre-Cure, estimated length of contact with Bobby and rate of power acceleration, Bobby will be in a coma for two months thereabouts," Hank replied calmly as he tapped away on the computer. "Now, albeit, I haven't done an exam of Rogue's power development today, but based on her progress so far... after a second of contact... Remy should be out of it for... one week and Rogue will have his powers for approximately six hours. Incidentally, Bobby's powers returned to him within a day, although exactly how long he was without them I cannot say for certain."

"Six hours," Logan repeated.

"Two months," Rogue breathed.

"Rogue?" Storm inquired.

Rogue was quiet for a moment, her mind whirling with the idea that she'd put Bobby in a two-month coma. Storm had to say her name again before Rogue's head jerked up and looked her in the eye.

"Six hours is better than forty-eight," Rogue said.

"Rogue—" Logan began.

"Logan, not even you can deny that. And heck, if he's under for a week, that's all the better. Less sedative needed, if any at all," Rogue replied firmly.

She removed her hand from Gambit's iron grip and took off her glove.

"Wait," said Storm. "We should get a bed... and restraints ready."

"Storm—" Logan began.

"Lesser of two evils, Logan."

"This is not the lesser!"

"Logan, I appreciate your concern, I really do," Rogue said. "And I get where you're coming from—I'm not exactly looking forward to the idea—but something needs to be done, and this is what I do. And quite frankly, I actually think I like the idea of touching someone and doing them good instead of harm for once."

Logan clenched his jaw, but finally nodded. A bed was brought, upon which Rogue laid down and they strapped down all but one arm which was bare. She reached out her hand towards Gambit's forehead, Logan's hand was around her wrist. Rogue took a deep breath.

"It's not too late," Logan told her.

Rogue didn't answer. She moved her hand the last few inches and placed her fingers upon Gambit's forehead. She felt the pull of life force—slower than it had been with Bobby but still much faster than usual. It practically burned as it ran inside her and her scream coincided with Logan reefing her hand away from Gambit's skin. She felt like every cell inside her being was on fire. She wanted to tear it away; rip herself open and tear the horrible burning away. She tried to fight her arm being tied down. She tried to pull herself free and make the burning go away. She screamed and screamed and screamed.

* * *

Logan gently pulled the mouth guard out of Rogue's mouth as she fell asleep just under six hours later, exhausted by the ordeal. She would have screamed herself hoarse if they hadn't put that in (Logan wondered if that was what happened to Gambit—it would explain why his voice had come out so harsh). Logan wiped the last and latest production of sweat from Rogue's forehead. He stayed with her the whole time; there was no way he was going to leave her to go through all that alone.

Logan honestly didn't know how to describe his relationship with Rogue. Somewhere in between friend and surrogate daughter, he supposed, perhaps mentor and protégée. He remembered after she'd come back Cured, one of the first things she had done was come to him and ask him for further training. She was determined to prove that she wasn't defined by her powers, nor that the lack of them made her weak. If anything, Logan had been surprised at just how much Rogue had come out of her shell. He'd been so surprised the first time she'd really given him any lip he was reduced to silence for a full two minutes before he'd come back to his senses and retorted. He couldn't even remember what exactly she had said now, but he liked the change. He hoped it would stay, although judging from her performance earlier he had no reason to fear on that account. As much as he hated her decision, he respected why she made it.

"Gumbo had better be damned grateful for this," he said softly.

With another long look at Rogue, he started undoing the restraints, frowning slightly when he got to her feet. That was odd—he knew they'd been set firm but not so tight. Perhaps Rogue had been pulling harder against them than he thought. Actually for that matter, the loops weren't sitting where they'd left them either, and they were a lot looser. Logan frowned, but dismissed the matter as he undid them. It was over and there wasn't any lasting physical injury. Now, as long as the incident hadn't left any psychological scarring (like Rogue didn't have enough of that already) everything should be okay.

The restraints now back in the drawer where they belonged, Logan pulled a sheet over Rogue and then headed towards Hank's office.

"It's over," he reported. "She's sleeping."

"Ahh, very good," Hank replied.

"How's Remy?"

"Coma. He already has his powers back, but he appears to be resting comfortably."

"Well, at least the plan's working so far. Look, I'm going to get some shut eye myself. You going to be up for long?"

"No, I was about to head off myself. I'll just check in on Rogue on my way out."

"Okay. Night."

Logan headed off. Hank finished what he was doing, then headed to Rogue's room. He frowned slightly when he saw her, feeling like something wasn't quite right, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it and dismissed the matter. He made sure she was set for the night, then checked in on Gambit and Bobby—all were as fine as could be expected—and headed off for bed.

* * *

Storm met Hank in the hallway on the way to the med lab the next morning.

"Good morning, Hank," she said pleasantly. "I was just on my way down to check up on our patients."

"What a remarkable coincidence," Hank joked. "I was just about to do the same thing."

"How was Rogue doing last night?"

"Fast asleep by the time Logan and I left. I haven't had a call from her so I'm assuming that she's still asleep."

"You've certainly had your work cut out for you recently," Storm observed. "All we usually get are danger room and sporting injuries, the occasionally child malady and all of a sudden, three full time patients."

"If this is going to become a habit, I think I may need an assistant."

"I'll add it to the list, just in case."

Hank chuckled. The pair arrived at the med lab and the first stop they made was Rogue's room. She must have heard their arrival because she rolled over and opened her eyes to look at them. She sat up slowly, the sheet slipping down to her waist.

"Morning," she said, her voice a little raspy.

"Morning," Hank replied. "How are you feeling?"

"My throat's sore. And I think I'm going to have nightmares about that for the rest of my life, but otherwise good."

"Well, let's just check that throat out, shall we? It's probably the screaming."

Rogue nodded and Hank pulled out his things. Storm stood there frowning slightly while Hank conducted his inspection. In the middle of his prognosis, Storm drew her breath in sharply at her realisation. Hank and Rogue looked at her.

"You're _younger_," Storm said.

"I... what?" Rogue frowned.

Hank looked between Rogue and Storm, a frown on his face.

"Your clothes are baggier for one thing," Storm pointed out. "And Hank, look at her face. That is not an adult face."

She refrained from pointing out that Rogue had clearly gone down a few bra sizes, but Rogue got the hint herself with the word 'baggy clothes'. Her now ill-fitting bra came to her attention, although it certainly wasn't the only part of herself that was suddenly smaller. Rogue and Storm's eyes met, then Storm practically ran from her room to Gambit's.

"Goddess!" she exclaimed.

The man lying in the bed was still older than the Gambit she remembered, but after a day and a half since the return of his powers, he was looking closer to sixty rather than ninety. Many of the wrinkles were gone, his hair more grey than white and slightly thicker.

"Oh my stars and garters," Hank exclaimed from behind. "I never expected this."

"The return of his powers means he's reversing in age."

"It would appear so. _How_ I don't know. The aging process is generally considered irreversible."

"So, he's going to continue to regress until he hits his thirty-nine year old body?"

"Presumably. I'll need to run some tests on both of them. One thing is certain, Rogue cannot absorb Remy again; not until his powers stabilise at least."

"Indeed."

Hank and Storm turned back and Rogue looked up at them expectantly.

"Remy's been doing some reverse aging of his own," Storm told her.

"I'm sure he'll be happy to get those years back," Rogue replied. "Look, I've... I've just realised something. My voices are gone."

"Pardon?"

"My voices, they're all gone," Rogue repeated.

"Rogue... just when did your powers manifest the first time?" Hank asked cautiously.

"I was sixteen. Just how far back do y'all think I've aged?"

"Early teens would be my guess," Storm said. "Is there a way to pin point an exact age?"

"I can give an approximate, but if you've aged back to under sixteen, Rogue—"

"Then I'm going to have to deal with my powers manifesting a third time," Rogue said with resignation. "Do y'all think I should go for a hat trick and kiss a boy into a coma when they do?"


	5. The New Kid

**Chapter 4: The New Kid**

"Well, on the bright side," Rogue said as they headed into the store, "at least it's only bras I have to get. Lots of clothes at the school—"

"You're not seriously thinking about wearing everyone else's hand-me-downs, are you?" Kitty asked, frowning slightly at her 'young' friend.

"No, some of my own clothes are still fine," Rogue replied cheerfully. "I lost a couple of inches and most of my curves, but my baggy shirts, belts, gloves, scarves, some of my shoes, socks, they're all good. The thing I'm really mad about is that now I have to wait eight years before I can hit the bars with Logan. I was really looking forward to bar-hopping with him. Stupid age limit on drinking. No way I'll pass for twenty-one in two years."

"Rogue, you've got to get some of your own clothes," Kitty said determinedly, putting on hand on her hip and waging her finger at Rogue.

"Why? I'm only going to grow out of them again. There's nothing wrong with the spare clothes at the school," Rogue shrugged while she went through the racks of bras and sighed in annoyance. "I have no idea what size I should be trying here."

"They're clothes for the students, Rogue. You know, the seventh-graders? The kids we look down on," Kitty pointed out. "What size were you at thirteen?"

"Eh, I don't remember. And I'm not going to try and dress like an adult when I don't even look like one. Besides, Kitty, you know how much I prefer tight clothing but well... seriously, with this body? What part of 'no curves' don't you understand? I have nothing to flaunt any more. So sad."

Kitty giggled.

"Okay, I guess I can't argue with that. Oh, hey how'd things with Emma go?"

"Hmph, well after she told me how stupid I was for going through that for Remy's sake, and that he didn't deserve my charity and I couldn't expect the same in return, she said it looks like I've lucked out in the mutation department."

"Oh?"

"Aging back reset my mutation development. She's now able to keep an eye on how things progress and make sure that it matures properly. Apparently one issue in power development is powers manifesting before they're matured enough, which was one of the Professor's theories on why I couldn't control my power," Rogue shrugged. "So we're going to try and rule out or otherwise prevent that one from being a problem. I'm also going to be going to therapy, taking up meditation, learning massage and a bunch of other stuff to prevent the million and one other things it could be."

Kitty laughed.

"You sound so excited."

"Well, as long as one of them works," Rogue said. "I just... if I'm going to be stuck with this power, then I want control over the wretched thing. This whole thing is such a mess."

* * *

"It's nice to see Remy will a full head of hair again," Storm said. "A full head of _brown_ hair. Like it's supposed to be."

Logan snickered from where he and Storm were looking at Gambit, still in his coma. The restraints had long been released and put away. Gambit's eyes were closed and his longish brown hair was fanned out on the pillow.

"Yeah, he'll be happy to see that too, I'm sure," Logan agreed, his arms firmly folded across his chest.

"Nice to see all the wrinkles are gone too," Storm considered. "Actually if this is Remy at thirty-nine, he looks pretty good. More twenties."

There was silence while Storm and Logan contemplated this comment. They looked at each other, the same idea occurring to each of them at once and without another word required between them, they practically ran from the room and went after Hank.

* * *

A few days later, Gambit opened his eyes. He lifted one hand to rub his head and immediately stopped. His hand was different. It was smaller than he recalled but more importantly the skin was much tighter than it had been for weeks. Speculatively, he lifted his other hand. It too looked younger. He put both hands done on his face, one rubbing his forehead, the other his face in general. His face was smooth—smoother than it had been in years in fact. He couldn't even feel any stubble. The hand touching his forehead grazed against his hair and a smile came to his lips as he realised he had a full head of hair again. He could just feel his power within him, a vague, warm sensation but it was there. He felt far more alive (other than the headache) and energised than he had in weeks.

Gambit reached over and pressed the call button on the remote on the tray. Now that Hank had been signalled, Gambit began running one hand over his neck, his arms and his torso. He attempted to sit up, but was felled by a dizzy spell and had to lie down again. He closed his eyes.

"Remy?" Hank queried.

"Bonjour Hank," Gambit said pleasantly, and was promptly taken aback by the high-pitched voice that was coming out of his mouth. "I... Why is my voice coming out so high? What happened?"

"Ahh, well," Hank said tentatively as he walked over to his patient, his eyes scanning him carefully. "Your powers came back."

"That much I know."

"They were giving you a lot of... pain."

"I remember."

"Your body has been regressed to that of a thirteen year old, give or take."

"That explains the squeaky voice," Gambit said mildly as he attempted to comprehend this. "Thirteen?"

"Approximately. That's the age we decided to designate Rogue and as you look about the same age group now we—"

"Wait, what about Rogue?"

"Ahh, well, she absorbed you when we ran out of the sedation gas and was also regressed. The coma lasted a week and your entire regression. We were worried you were going to age further but you appear to have stabilised."

"Merde," Gambit said opening his eyes, his face fill with concern. "Is she okay?"

"My stars," Hank stared. "Are... you... I think I'm going to have to run some additional tests."

"What? Why?"

Hank blinked and looked hard at Gambit's face again, as if to assure himself he was really seeing what he was seeing. He had seen some unusual eye colours before, but nothing like this.

"Your eyes have appear to have suffered some... mild discolouration," Hank said, attempting to downplay the situation.

"Discolouration?" Gambit repeated, and a slight grin played on his lips as he asked jokingly: "They wouldn't happen to be red on black, would they?"

For a moment, Hank was stunned into silence.

"How did you know?" Hank asked quietly.

"How did I..." Gambit began, his hand flying back to his eyes again in a futile attempt to see his own eye colour. "Wait, you mean they _are_?"

"Yes. Red irises on black sclera."

"Dieu..." Gambit breathed. "I need a mirror. I seriously need a mirror, as in five minutes ago."

Hank was a little taken aback, but he departed to retrieve a mirror from another room. Upon his return he silently handed the mirror to Gambit and angled the bed so he could sit up. Gambit stared at his reflection. His youthful appearance taking second place to his black and red eyes.

"I never thought I'd be happy to see these guys again," he said quietly, unable to tear his eyes away from his eyes.

"Oh?" Hank inquired.

"I grew up with them. I'm sure you can imagine I hated them at the time. They marked me as different, got me teased and picked on, or I was treated with horror. They're what brought me to Stryker's attention," Gambit explained quietly. "I went into Stryker's with them but when I came out... they were gone."

"And now you've been regressed to an age before you were taken into Stryker's custody."

"Yeah. Are you sure this isn't a dream or something? I got those fifty years back—and then some—and my old eyes and..." Gambit stopped for a moment, then sighed and shook his head. "Oh wait, this can't be a dream; I just realised I have to go through puberty again."

Hank laughed.

"Well," Hank said, taking on a more professional tone. "According to my last tests, both your powers and your aging process are stabilised. I would prefer if you stayed with us at the mansion for awhile though, so we can make sure it stays that way. Storm prepared a room for you upstairs for when you arrived and it's still available for you."

"You mean you're actually letting me get up?" Gambit asked.

"Yes, but take it slowly. You've been bedridden for weeks."

"Whatever you say," Gambit replied as he pulled his legs out from underneath the covers and dangled them over the side. "Huh, the floor seems to be further down that it looks."

Hank chuckled and lowered the bed.

"I imagine you've probably lost some height. Rogue lost a few inches, but boys will develop later than girls."

"Insert more complaints here about going through puberty again," Gambit said dryly.

"I'll go give Storm a call and let her know you're awake," Hank said. "Take your time getting out of bed."

"Sure, sure."

"Oh, and as you can see, there's some clothes on the chair for you. We didn't believe that you would fit in anything you'd brought with you."

"Merci."

Hank left the room and Gambit stepped onto the floor. His legs felt like jelly beneath him and he immediately reached out for the nearby chair and sat down. He glanced over the clothes that were waiting for them, sighed ruefully, then picked up the mirror which was still lying on the bed. He wasn't sure what was going to take more getting used to: being a kid again or having his old eyes back.

This was definitely going to take some getting used to.

By the time Storm arrived, Gambit had dressed and mastered walking across the room.

"Remy," she greeted. "Nice to see you up and about—oh!"

Gambit grinned at the stunned expression on Storm's face as she looked at him.

"Stormy!" he greeted enthusiastically, his face beaming with joy. "Guess what? I have my old eyes back."

"So I see."

"And... I'm either short, or you've grown a lot in the last few weeks."

Storm laughed.

"I think you've shrunk, Remy."

Gambit chuckled, walked over and gave her a hug.

"There are advantages to being short," he said smugly, his head nestled against her chest.

"There are also advantages to being able to throw lightning bolts," Storm said dryly.

"Oui," Gambit replied as he pulled away. "Any time you want people to stop watching the TV and have a games night instead you can just strike out the antenna."

"Yes, because I'm so concerned about games nights."

"See? I knew it."

"Come on, Remy, you think you can manage a walk to your room?"

"You think you could manage a tour of this place? Been here for weeks and the only place I've seen is the med lab."

"I think we can arrange something, if you think you're still up for the walk by the time we get to your room."

"I've done enough lying down. Besides, I feel fine. Better than fine, actually."

"I hope it stays that way."

* * *

Gambit proved to be quite capable on his feet, and so it was that Storm's tour brought them to the gym just in time to hear Logan say to his class: "Okay, hit the showers."

"Timed it perfectly," Storm said smugly.

Gambit chuckled as she called Logan and Rogue over. It was then that Gambit's eyes fell on the only young teen who hadn't left the room: he wouldn't have recognised her if it hadn't been for the white streak in her hair.

"Remy?" Rogue exclaimed the same time Logan said: "Gumbo?"

"Nice to see you too," Gambit replied. "Hey, no gloves."

"Regressed to before my powers manifested, so yay, lucked out," Rogue replied with a bright grin and gave Gambit a hug, which he returned with gusto. As they pulled back, Rogue looked into his eyes curiously: "What happened to your eyes?"

"I lucked out too," he replied with a smug grin, his hands still on her upper arms. "Regressed to before I got abducted by Stryker. They're supposed to look like this."

"Well, they look awesome," Rogue said decisively.

"Merci."

"Nice to see you up and about," Logan said with his arms folded across his chest. "By the way, you owe Rogue huge. She went through _six hours_ of _agonising torment_ for your sake."

"Wait, what?" Gambit asked, his eyes wide. "Désolé, Hank told me you absorbed me but I—"

"Six hours seemed like a better deal than forty-eight, which is how long you would have had to wait before Hank could have gotten more gas," Rogue said firmly. "I would have done it for anyone."

"Ahh," Gambit said, as he slid his hand down her arm, took her hand and kissed it. "But you did it for me, not 'anyone'. I hope I haven't inconvenienced you at all."

"Well, I have to wait eight years instead of two before I can go bar hopping with Logan," Rogue joked. "But hey, if it means I get my powers under control in a few years time, it'll be worth the wait."

"Merde, you're right: no bar hopping," Gambit said with a flight frown. "Great, not only do I have to go through puberty again, but no drinking—legally anyway—no casinos—"

"No women," Logan smirked.

"Crap! Wait... maybe I can find a woman who doesn't have a problem with sleeping with younger men."

"In your case they're called 'pedophiles'."

"And a pedophile is exactly what I'm going to feel like if I try sleeping with a fille my physical age," Gambit said in annoyance as he rubbed his chin.

"No seducing the students, Remy," Storm said firmly.

"Maybe if you ask really nicely, Squeaky, I might buy a couple of Playboys for you," Logan said.

Gambit sighed, then turned to Storm with his arms outstretched.

"Stormy, Logan's picking on me. I think I need a hug," he said.

"Nice try," Storm replied dryly.

"Nice view. Just the right eye line for it," Gambit added with a grin as he put the side of his hand up against the bridge of nose and waved it levelly towards Storm.

"Stripes?" Logan said.

"Yeah, Logan?" replied Rogue.

"_Now_ I have a problem with you hanging out with Remy."

Rogue laughed and Gambit gave Logan a pitiful look.

"But us thirteen year old adults have to stick together," Gambit insisted, taking the liberty of wrapping an arm around Rogue's waist. "Besides, how am I supposed to repay my debt if you won't let me near her?"

Rogue poked Gambit with her elbow.

"You can start by taking your arm off me, Swamp Rat," she said.

Logan grinned proudly while Gambit acquiesced.

"You're not my type anyway," Gambit replied, looking her up and down. "On the other hand, I do have reason to believe that you will be in about six years from now."

"I don't much go for little boys either," Rogue retorted.

"Besides, you already have a boyfriend. How is Bobby doing, anyway?"

"Still asleep, but Hank thinks he'll wake up in six or seven weeks."

"Bon. Which reminds me," Gambit said gleefully and rubbing his hands together. "I need to find Emma and give her a hug."

* * *

There was something about the way that Gambit swaggered into the dining hall an hour or so later that caught the attention of the occupants. He may have looked thirteen but he had none of the insecurity that came with such an age. He extruded confidence and everyone noticed.

"Emma!" Gambit exclaimed, his eyes falling on the scantily-dressed telepath. "Long time, no see."

Emma was far too shocked at Gambit's appearance to immediately object to the big hug he gave her. Having been banned from visiting him in the med lab, she had no idea of his new found youth, unlike Hank, Storm, Logan, and Rogue who had checked on him frequently. All the X-men and students stared, amazed that this 'new kid' would have the gall to actually touch Emma, and with his head in such a convenient location.

"Remy?"

"Mmm," Gambit sighed, unabashedly looking down her shirt. "Y'know Emma, I think this is the closest I've ever come to sleeping with you."

Emma pushed Gambit off of her and he grinned at her broadly.

"What the hell happened?" Emma demanded, her eyes flashing with fury.

"Apparently there is a God and He's decided to give me a second chance at life, chérie."

"Don't call me that. I'm not your darling. And with eyes like that, I doubt that it's _God_ who's giving you a 'second chance'."

Gambit laughed heartily, clapping his hands together.

"And so the demon jokes begin again! Would you believe I actually missed that? By the way, Emma, I love the white, lacy underthings. Such a tease."

"At least I'm not wearing clothes that look like they were bought at a thrift shop."

"No, you're wearing clothes two sizes too small," Gambit said and then cupped his hands in front of his chest. "Little wonder you're popping out there."

"I think that's quite enough," Storm cut in then. "Next time you two decide to engage in a battle of... engage in a battle, take it away from the students, thank you. Remy, please come here."

"Yes, Remy," Emma said coolly. "Go to Mommy, little boy."

"Emma!" Storm glared at her.

"You'll keep, Emma," Gambit replied simply. "You'll keep."

He sauntered back over to Storm, who was rubbing her forehead.

"Are you two being here going to be a problem?" Storm asked.

"Not gonna be a problem for me," Gambit replied.

Storm sighed.

"Come on, I want to introduce you to the rest of the X-men, and we may as well eat while we're here."

"D'accord."

Storm and Gambit made their way to the bench were the lunch was laid out, filled their plates and then headed to the table where Rogue was sitting with her friends.

"Remy, Storm," Rogue said. "Come to join us?"

"Yes," Storm replied as she sat down. "Everyone, this is Remy. Remy this is Kitty, Piotr—"

"Call me Pete."

"Warren and Jubilee."

"And you already know me," Rogue grinned at him.

"You're my favourite," Gambit replied, sitting down next to her. "You came and read me bedtime stories. Although, I don't believe you ever gave me a kiss good night..."

"That's because you were usually asleep by the time I left and wouldn't have been able to appreciate it."

"You could give me a kiss now."

"But that wouldn't be a 'good night' kiss, Swamp Rat."

"Where did this 'Swamp Rat' thing come from? That's the second time you've called me that now."

"It just popped into my head."

"If you say so, River Rat."

"I suppose I deserved that," Rogue replied with a smirk.

"Oui," Gambit said and grinned at her.

"Man you have guts, hugging Emma like that," Warren cut in then.

"I was impressed she let me get that close. I must have surprised her," Gambit chuckled.

"Well, one minute you're an old man, the next you're a teenager," Storm said.

"With 'demon' eyes," Gambit snickered, his eyes glinting with mischief. "I should have given her boobs a squeeze while I had the chance. Oh well."

"Remy, it's bad enough she dresses like that at a school without giving the teenage boys any more ideas than they already have. Someone might decide to follow your example."

"I hope so. If she's going to dress like a whore, she deserves to be treated like one."

"Were you planning on paying her like one too?" Rogue asked.

"Oh, by the time I was done with her, she wouldn't be asking for money," Gambit said, paused, then continued: "That would have sounded so much more provocative if my voice wasn't so damned high."

Rogue laughed at him.

"Hey, what are you laughing at chère?" Gambit asked. "You used to be a D-cup."

"Yeah, and you used to need a pacemaker and a colostomy bag."

"You had to _change_ the colostomy bag."

"Your eyesight was so bad you were practically blind."

"It was good enough to see your fine, fine adult body ma chère."

"No, that was Hank who was giving you the sponge bath."

"I know. He insisted. I told him I didn't mind if you did, but he seemed concerned that you wouldn't be able to resist temptation."

"I've never heard of anyone being able to drown someone in a sponge bath before."

"Actually, it's the choking hazard you have to worry about, y'know, on those occasions where you _don't_ use a sponge."

"... If you're not using a sponge, what's there to choke—oh hell."

Gambit laughed at the disgusted expression on Rogue's face as she realised what he was implying. Gambit licked the tip of his finger and drew a stroke in the air with it.

"Point."


	6. Making Plans

**Chapter 5: Making Plans**

Gambit spent the following week acquainting himself with the school and getting himself back into shape again, flirting and bantering with Rogue and generally annoying Emma at any given opportunity. Nevertheless, Gambit was well aware that there was something that needed addressing, which brought him to Storm's office one fine day.

"Come in Remy," she said, spying him at the doorway.

"Hey, I was hoping that you could help me out with something," Gambit said, as he walked in and sat down on a nearby chair. "See, I tried to call mon père, except they wouldn't let me through."

"They wouldn't?"

"Yeah, for some reason they don't seem to think I sound a thing like Remy LeBeau. Didn't matter that I had the passcodes, the fact I sound like an adolescent is reason enough not to take me seriously," Gambit said with a sigh. "And there was no point in trying to explain, because they'd just think the truth was a prank call."

"Yes... I can see why they might at that," Storm replied.

"Would you mind calling père for me? I can give you the passcodes. They'll let you through."

"Sure thing."

"Thanks."

Gambit handed her the passcodes on a sheet of paper and Storm rang the number for the Thieves Guild.

"Jean-Luc doesn't have a mobile phone or something?" she asked while she waited for someone to pick up.

"Nope. It would have made things a hell of a lot easier if he did," Gambit grumbled.

Storm's chuckle was cut off by someone picking up at the other end. She asked to speak to Jean-Luc, providing the passcode and her name. Moments later, Jean-Luc picked up the phone.

"Ororo! Such a pleasure to hear from you," he said cheerfully. "It's been awhile, non?"

"It has indeed," Storm replied warmly. "How have you been?"

"Not too bad, and yourself?"

"Quite well, thank you. I'm calling about Remy."

"Just a moment... Bon, the line is secure."

"Problems?"

"Bella Donna was not happy to find out Remy had left. She's out for blood; not to mention the rest of the Guild."

"Why is Bella Donna out for blood?" Storm asked, glancing at Gambit curiously. "I thought Julien was the one responsible for 'Curing' Remy."

"Oh he was. Bella Donna's angry about Remy killing him afterwards."

"I see. Remy didn't tell me that part."

Gambit ignored Storm's cool tone and folded his arms across his chest as he sat back in the chair.

"Typical Remy," Jean-Luc said good-naturedly. "To be honest, 'Ro, I'm relieved, and I think _most_ of the Assassins are relieved too, even Bella Donna to some degree. Julien was...a very high-handed guild leader, and the war between our guilds has escalated because of him. How is mon fils?"

"He's alive and well, and sitting across from me as we speak," Storm said. "I'll put you on, but I should warn you, he'd not going to sound like the Remy you last spoke to."

"Oh?"

"He's going to sound like an adolescent boy. You heard about the Cure wearing off, I assume?"

"Oui."

"Well, when it wore off, Remy aged backwards. He's now about thirteen."

"Mon dieu! I thought the rapid aging was insane enough but I never even considered _backwards_."

"Neither did we. Fortunately, the aging processed appears to have finally stabilised. Here he is," Storm said, and passed Gambit the phone.

"Bonjour, mon père," Gambit said cheerfully, putting the phone to his ear.

"Remy! Mon dieu, I was told some kid was prank calling the guild trying to tell us he was Remy... That was you, wasn't it?"

"I just don't understand why no one bought it..." Gambit said with a melodramatic sigh.

"Ha! I'll tell them next time you call to let you through."

"I'll appreciate that. Look père, Hank—he's the doctor here—"

"You actually checked yourself in with a doctor. I'm shocked."

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, like Stormy said, he thinks that the aging has finally stabilised, but he wants me to hang around for a while yet just to make sure I stay all right."

"D'accord."

"Thing is, I'm going to need some ID."

"I know that tone... Just what are you planning, Remy?"

"I was thinking I might pose as my own son."

Jean-Luc laughed.

"Seriously," Gambit went on cheerfully. "This is the scene: Remy has a fling with a fille—nothing usual there—except of course, they get careless and I'm conceived. Remy wanted to do the right thing and marry her, but she turned him down—shocking, I know—and just to really rub salt in the wound, she blatantly refused to let me get involved with the Thieves Guild."

"The nerve," Jean-Luc said with an amused tone in his voice.

"I know, disgusting right? Imagine being morally opposed to stealing. What is the world coming to?" Gambit joked. "Anyway, so Mère lets Père have the privilege of naming me, and he does: Remy Etienne LeBeau the Second."

Both Jean-Luc and Storm laughed.

"What?" Gambit demanded. "I like my name, and I see no reason why I should change it altogether. I look like myself, I talk like myself. Plus I doubt I'm going to get used to answering to anything other than 'Remy'. In a few years people are going to be mistaking me for me anyway. So, as I was saying, I've been living with Mère all this time, until she died recently and I was put in the custody of Storm, who probably introduced my parents... if she doesn't mind playing the part of my guardian?"

Gambit looked at Storm in inquiry and she shook her head with a smile in confirmation.

"Bon," Gambit said. "I figure Remy probably visited me a whole bunch growing up and probably taught me thief skills—which are useful for things other than stealing—on the sly. We just have to have Remy the First declared dead, so that I can inherit all my stuff. I'll need to write a back-dated will leaving all my stuff to my son."

"Email me what you need," Jean-Luc said. "I'll have the papers drawn up. And we'll have to have a funeral, so I'll need to arrange a body. Hmm..."

"What's hmm?"

"We could have some fun with this, mon fils."

"We could."

"Don't tell Henri or anyone else about this. If you call, you're Remy the Second."

"Bon," Gambit said with a chuckle.

They chatted a little longer, then hung up. Gambit was grinning broadly with delight.

"Remy?" said Storm.

"Oui?"

"Why didn't you just email Jean-Luc in the first place?"

"Père never checks his email," Gambit replied. "And when he does he tends to delete half the stuff in there without looking at it, which is fine for spam, not so good for legitimate mail. So we've all learned: call before emailing Père."

Storm chuckled.

"By the way, thanks for agreeing to play guardian for me," Gambit said. "I can just imagine walking into a bank with these eyes and a death certificate trying to inherit my own money."

"Yes, I can see how you might have some problems."

"Désolé, I should have thought to ask about Rogue. Is she going to need a new ID?"

"We've already organised some fake ID for her, just for when she goes out," Storm said. "In a few years, it won't matter if she looks six years younger than what she really is."

"True."

"Thanks for your concern, by the way."

"She wouldn't be in this position if it wasn't for me," Gambit said seriously.

Storm nodded.

"Anyway, thanks again for your help Stormy," Gambit said as he got up.

"No problem. By the way Remy, while you're here, there's something I wanted to ask you."

"Oui?"

"It's about classes."

"I'm not enrolling as a student."

"I wasn't going to ask you to," Storm replied with a spark of amusement in her eye. "For one thing, Emma teaches the English class and I can just imagine how well that would work. I think that would be more disruptive than educational for all parties involved."

Gambit chuckled.

"Actually, I was hoping you might concede to teach a class."

"Me? chère, I look like one of them. What makes you think they would even take me seriously?" Gambit asked, regarding Storm with a great deal of skepticism.

"There is that risk," Storm agreed. "It's a problem we've had with some of our graduates teaching classes too, which is why I would like to start with one and see how that goes. I think if anyone can command the respect of a classroom of students it'll be you, and I think this subject is right up your alley."

"French?"

"Sex education."

Gambit burst out laughing.

"You've got to be kidding me," he said.

"Not at all," Storm said seriously. "We've had to drop the class since Jean died. The last 'sex ed' the students here got was a day seminar we set up. I used to teach it until I had to take over Jean's classes. Then the Professor and Scott died and Logan and I had to do theirs as well. I know you don't like Emma, but I blessed the day she joined us and ultimately took over the Professor's classes, and of course, Hank has been a Godsend. This is a boarding school, Remy, and we have a lot of kids we're responsible for. For a lot of them this is the only home they have and we have to make sure they're educated in all parts of their life. I have far too much on my plate with the classes I do teach and with my duties as headmistress. I don't even want to consider how Logan teaching sex ed would go—"

"You. No sex until you're eighteen or I'll shish-kabob you," Gambit joked, pointing at Storm with his right index finger as if she was one of the students. "And I can smell what colour underwear you're wearing from 400 yards so don't think I can't smell you having sex in the next room."

"Hank gets a little embarrassed about these kinds of things," Storm went on after throwing Gambit an amused look. "And as for Emma... I tolerate her dress because we need her here, but I'm not going to ask her to teach sex ed under any circumstances. That leaves the graduates, and I have a hard enough time putting them in charge of normal subjects. I can't imagine trying to put them in charge of sex ed. Only Warren and Rogue don't have problems. Warren is dedicated to his own studies, however, and Rogue's already assisting Logan with his classes."

"So you're left with me," Gambit concluded, an amused, ironic expression on his face. "Scraping the bottom of the barrel a bit, Stormy?"

"Actually, I rather think you'll be perfect for it," Storm told him with equal amusement. "You've slept with Goddess-knows how many different women and not one STD or unplanned pregnancy—"

"Well," Gambit interrupted with an unusually serious tone. "That depends on if Bella Donna's daughter is mine or not."

"Bella Donna has a daughter? I knew Julien had a son..."

"Oui. Mignonette. She's fifteen. Belle's not telling who the father is though. She was conceived during Belle's 'Stuff you Julien I'm going to sleep with whoever the hell I want' period. It really could be anyone."

"Okay then." Storm wasn't entirely certain what to say to that.

"Julien was a bit of a controlling guild leader and he always made objections over ever man Belle ever dated. Personally, I rather suspect his feelings for her weren't exactly socially acceptable, if you know what I mean," Gambit said with a smirk. "Not that you would know it with the way he went through whores—but you already know about that. Y'know, if Mignonette is mine... this is a pretty creepy situation. I may be younger than my own daughter."

"Have you ever tried asking Bella Donna?"

"Sure I have, a couple of times. Usually it ends with 'Wouldn't you want to know', to which the only response if 'Well, ouias, that's why I'm asking'. Personally, I suspect that Belle doesn't even know who the father is. Anyway, I was pretty sure I used protection, but we had been drinking that night and so when Belle announced she was pregnant, I did start to wonder. She's got brown hair and eyes too, not that that really narrows it down. Like I said, it was during her slut period."

"But this is what I'm saying, Remy," Storm said. "You've had everything from the long term, serious relationship to the one night stands to friends with benefits. You understand relationships, you know all about the different methods of protection and you're not embarrassed to talk about it. In fact, I rather suspect that your physical age might actually work in your favour."

"How so?" Gambit asked.

"For the younger ones at least, they might see you as someone less... threatening than a physical adult. Someone they can ask questions of. As I said, Remy, this is a school and for a lot of these kids this is the only place they're going to learn about this kind of thing. I certainly don't want them looking for answers on the internet or something where they might get the wrong ideas."

"Next you'll have me enlisted as the school counsellor."

"Not likely," Storm deadpanned. "Your advice would probably be 'go get laid'."

Gambit laughed. Storm turned on her swivel chair and pulled a folder from the book case. She turned back and handed it to Gambit.

"This is all the study materials," she explained. "The dolls are in storage room A."

"Dolls?" Gambit queried.

"Plastic, electronic babies."

Gambit snickered.

"You'll have to make sure they're still working, but other than fresh batteries I imagine they'll all be fine," Storm informed him.

"Study materials," Gambit said, as he flipped through the folder. "What's the required reading for this class? The Kama Sutra?"

"No, this would be the basics class, Remy. I imagine the Kama Sutra would be for the more advanced class and we're not going to run one of those."

Gambit smirked, shook his head and let out a long breath.

"Okay, Stormy," he said. "I'll give it a shot. If they listen, great, if they don't, well, we know better. And bear in mind here I've never actually taught a roomful of students before. I mean, I've taught trainee thieves, but that was always one on one, nothing in a classroom."

"Feel free to sit in on other classes if you want."

"Pass."

"I had a feeling you might say that. Let me know when you're prepared. I'd rather like to get the course started up again as soon as possible."

"Very well. Probably... after my funeral," Gambit decided as an amused smile appeared on his face. "Not sure how long I'll be in N'Awlins for, so best to wait so there's no interruption."

"Makes sense."

"Hey Stormy."

"Yes?"

"I'm going to be attending my own funeral. How hilarious is that?"

"Very funny."

"I can't wait to see how it goes. And who shows up. Actually, you should come with, especially you being my guardian and all."

"I don't know, Remy."

"Aww, c'mon Stormy. It'll be great! And you'll get to see ma famille again."

"I suppose that's true."

"You know you want to."

Storm chuckled.

"I'll think about it when the time comes."

"It'll be sooner rather than later, knowing mon père. Hmm, I think I'm going to have to start getting used to calling him 'grandpère'," Gambit snickered. "Oh and referring to myself as 'père'. It's going to be weird and funny all at once."

"I'm glad you're able to make light of the situation."

"Well, it's not too often you get to start over, chérie. Besides, thirteen is a lot better than ninety."

"True enough. By the way... just what did happen to Julien?"

"Julien made a big mistake, Stormy," Gambit said, his jovial tone turning serious. "He seemed to think that without my powers I would be weak. He came to gloat about two days after I got done. And well, you know me and Julien; a fight was inevitable. Except this time in his arrogance he overextended himself and underestimated me. I was a little surprised actually—I was still getting used to slower reflexes—but not nearly as surprised as he was. You should have seen the look on his face."

"So, it was an accident?"

"I was angry, but I hadn't planned on killing him," Gambit said by way of confirmation. "We threw a party afterwards and then I started noticing little grey hairs. If I had realised what was happening before I killed Julien, it would have been deliberate."

* * *

"You're getting _Gambit_ to teach sex ed?" Logan exploded, bringing his fist down on the table. "'Ro, you can't be serious!"

"Why not?" asked Storm as she picked up her cup of tea for a sip.

"Hello! It's Remy we're talking about here. He's just as likely to teach them how to pole dance and what's an acceptable price to pay for a stripper."

"Logan, really, he wouldn't do that."

"No, you're right. He's never paid anyone to strip for him in his life. He just turns on the charm and they do it just to please him."

"I'm quite sure that Remy appreciates what he's being asked to do. I sincerely doubt he's going to teach them anything inappropriate."

Logan snorted contemptuously.

"Look, I get your concern, I do," Storm said in an attempt to placate Logan. "But you have to admit, Remy is probably the expert on sex around here, nay master—"

"I do not care to hear Remy's name in conjunction with 'master' and 'sex'."

"What do you want me to say, Logan? We've had to drop too much subjects as it is and I don't want the kids to end up experimenting on their own. Granted, some of them probably will anyway, but I'd rather they were informed first."

"About what? Sexual positions?"

"I don't want to end up with teenage pregnancies here, Logan."

"Oh, I can fix that—"

"Logan!"

Logan sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Fine, fine. But I have a condition."

* * *

"You want me to what?" Rogue demanded.

"Attend Remy's sex ed class."

"Why? I've already done the class. I already know about that stuff."

"Because I don't trust him."

"For shame, Logan. I thought he was your friend."

"I trust him to watch my back. I don't trust him not to corrupt a roomful of kids. Come on Rogue, you've had conversations with him. He can't resist dirty remarks and sexual innuendo and now he's being giving a license to share his life experiences with a bunch of impressionable children."

"Somehow I don't think Storm would have asked him to teach it if she thought he was going to introduce them to BDSM."

"... I didn't even think of that one. Wait, how do you know about BDSM?"

"I used to have the voices of grown men stuck in my head."

"Point taken. Look, I already cleared this with Storm."

"Logan, does the word 'paranoid' mean anything to you? And aren't I busy enough with danger rooms and mechanics and therapy and all that other stuff you and Emma have me doing?"

"A healthy dose of fear can help keep you alive. It's only one hour a week."

Rogue sighed.

"Fine, fine. But if he gives me one of those stupid dolls, I'm giving it to you to take care of."


	7. You Could Say I'm a Dead Ringer

**Chapter 6: You Could Say I'm a Dead Ringer**

Gambit and Storm stepped off the train platform and departed from the station. Gambit spotted Henri almost immediately, but of course, he wasn't supposed to be able to recognise his 'uncle' so Gambit said nothing, and continued to hide behind dark sunglasses. Eventually, Storm and Henri noticed each other and they closed the distance between them.

"'Ro, so good to see you," Henri said, taking her hand. "It's been a long time."

"Indeed it has," Storm replied warmly. "Remy, this is your Uncle Henri."

"Hi," Gambit said, holding out his hand.

"Bonjour, Remy," Henri said, shaking his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise. Is that your car?"

"Hmm? Oh yes. C'mon we should get going."

"Of course," Storm agreed.

Ever the gentleman, Henri opened the front passenger door for Storm while Gambit climbed in the back with their bags. Henri got into the driver's seat and Gambit took his sunglasses off. Henri glanced in the rear view mirror and—"

"Merde," Henri exclaimed, whirling around to take a close look at his 'nephew'.

"Henri, really," Storm said. "He's gotten enough bad language off his father without you adding to it."

Henri didn't answer. He was far too busy staring at Gambit's eyes. Gambit looked back at him steadily, a smile playing on his lips.

"See something of interest, mon ami?" Gambit drawled.

"You've got his eyes," Henri said in amazement.

"So I've been told."

"Never thought I'd see eyes like those again. Not since... Yeah well, we should get going."

"Not since Stryker? Yeah, Père told me about that," Gambit said as Henri started the car.

"Yeah? He tell you about us at all?"

"Bits and pieces. Maman didn't want me getting involved. She said you were all thieves and thieves go to hell."

"Right so... how on earth did she get involved with your père then? Wait, stupid question. I swear, your père could charm the pants off a nun."

"Probably did."

Storm choked on her laughter and Henri glanced at her.

"You right 'Ro?"

"Fine, fine," she assured him.

Gambit chuckled.

"You ahh, always this blasé about, umm, your père and other women?" Henri asked.

"He gave me the sex talk when I was eleven."

"Ahh. Of course he would."

"He just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to get some girl pregnant or something."

"Probably wise."

"And he wanted to annoy Maman."

"Yeah, that sounds like him. You know, your père... He never actually mentioned you to us."

"Maman didn't want me to get involved with you guys."

"Yeah, Père—erm, my père, your grandpère said something about that."

"That's why I'm Remy Etienne LeBeau the Second," Gambit said proudly. "Père said he demanded naming rights as compensation for keeping me out of the family business. Maman said it was appropriate because I had his eyes. Well, not that she ever saw his eyes when he had eyes like mine, but they did glow red when he used his powers so, yeah. Close enough, right?"

"Right."

* * *

Gambit looked up and around at the Guild Hall as he entered with Storm and Henri. It was amazing how different everything looked when he was almost a foot shorter. He was rather pleased with the startled looks he received from those they passed (they were all so much taller than he remembered) and didn't even bother to keep the smirk off his face.

This was going to be so much fun.

Henri led the way to the LeBeau private lounge, and when he opened the door, Gambit could see that Mercy, Sebastien and Aimee were already there waiting for them. Aimee's eyes widened when her gaze fell on Gambit, she gave a cry of alarm and immediately hid behind Mercy.

"What is it—oh!" Mercy gasped.

Gambit chuckled and glanced at Sebastien, who was staring at him. Gambit gave him a cheeky, two-fingered wave and Sebastien frowned.

"Remy, dis is ma famille; your Tante Mercy, and your cousins, Sebastien and Aimee," Henri said.

"Bonjour," Gambit greeted them.

"Mercy, yo' remember 'Ro."

"Yes of course," Mercy said as she tore her gaze from Gambit and reached out to take Storm's hand. "A pleasure it is to see you again."

"It is indeed," Storm agreed. "I can't believe how much the kids have grown."

"And this is Remy's son... Remy," Henri finished.

Sebastien snickered.

"Better than being named after a crab," Gambit said, smirking at him.

"Mon dieu," said Mercy, staring at Gambit. "He's exactly like his père."

No one had a chance to respond, for it was at that moment that the door opened once more and Jean-Luc arrived with Tante Mattie. Jean-Luc eyes immediately fell on Gambit.

"I know you told me," Jean-Luc said quietly. "But it's a whole other thing to actually see you."

"Ahh, Remy, this is your grandpère," Henri said. "And Tante Mattie."

"Nice to finally see you in person too," said Gambit holding out his hand.

Jean-Luc took one look at Gambit's offered hand and pulled him into a hug instead.

"I'm so glad you're all right mon fils," Jean-Luc said into his ear so no one else could hear.

"That makes two of us," Gambit replied.

"So, you're Remy's boy, hmm?" Tante Mattie said as they pulled away. "Let's get a good look at you. Remy's boy indeed."

Gambit grinned at her. He didn't know if Jean-Luc had told her or not, but Tante Mattie knew the truth. There was never hiding anything from Tante Mattie.

"I know," said Henri. "He looks just like Remy did at his age. Uncanny, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Gambit grinned. "You could say I'm a dead ringer."

Mercy coughed and Storm rolled her eyes.

"Yes, well," Henri said uncomfortably.

"Ororo," said Jean-Luc. "It's so good to see you again. Now we've put aside one of the guest rooms for your use."

"Thanks very much," Storm replied with a nod of her head.

"And Remy will be staying in Remy's room."

"What?" Henri asked. "You can't be serious."

"Why not? The boy has come into his inheritance, and that includes his père's room. Now—"

"Père," Henri said tersely. "He's just lost his père. I really don't think it's appropriate for Remy to sleep in there. Besides, who knows what he might find? If you know what I mean."

"Actually, I asked for it," Gambit spoke up.

Henri looked at him skeptically.

"You did?" he asked cautiously.

"Sure. I don't really think I spent as much time with Père as I would have liked to. He visited a lot but..." Gambit shrugged. "Not really the same."

"Well, if you change your mind, just let us know," said Mercy pleasantly, although there was a tinge to her voice that said she didn't much like the idea either.

"I'm sure Remy will be fine," said Tante Mattie. "Now, you two have probably had a long trip and you don't need us all gawping and carrying on. Let's get you settled, shall we?"

* * *

"Is Remy quite all right?" Mercy asked of Storm later.

"How do you mean?" asked Storm.

"Well, he did just recently lose his père."

"Ahh. Well, we all deal with grief in our own ways. And apparently Remy's way involves talking the other kids into playing poker with him."

Mercy chuckled.

"Actually, this was Sebastien's idea."

The two women looked over at the teenagers at the poker table. The stakes were high, and by high we mean there was chocolate at stake (the parents refused to let them gamble with money). Gambit pushed in a couple of Mars bars.

"Raise," Gambit said cheerfully.

"You sure you want to do that?" asked Sebastien.

"Wouldn't have if I didn't want to, cowboy."

"Fold," Aimee said quietly, putting her cards down.

"Call," said Sebastian.

"Fold," said Alex.

"Fold," said Leon.

"Hmm," Gambit said, glancing at the folders briefly. "Four kings."

"Full house, tens over twos," Sebastien said reaching for the chocolate bars. "I win."

"Au contraire," said Gambit, putting his hand done over Sebastien's. "Four of a kind always beats a full house."

"No, it doesn't."

"Sure it does. Straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card. Surrender the chocolate."

"You're mistaken. Isn't that right boys?"

"Right," Alex said quickly.

"Yep," Leon nodded.

Aimee looked down at the table and said nothing. Gambit laughed.

"Well, well, well," Gambit said. "Sebby-boy—"

"Sebastian."

"You're been playing by the wrong rules all this time if you think that a full house beats four of a kind. How about a little outsider opinion?"

"Remy, you're wrong. Deal with it," Sebastien said smugly.

"Of course, the more likely scenario is that we're not playing five card stud; we're actually playing 'Sebby's rules'."

"Stop calling me 'Sebby'."

"So, Leon," Gambit said. "What does he do to keep you in line? Alex? Aimee?"

"Stop being such a poor loser," Sebastien said.

"Tell me...if I had gotten the full house, and you had gotten the four of a kind, would you have claimed a win then too?" Gambit asked gleefully.

"Sebastien, he just lost his père," Aimee said softly. "Just let it go this once, okay?"

Sebastian glared at his younger sister and she ducked her head again. Gambit chuckled. He thought there had been something amiss during this game and now he'd finally figured out what it was. His nephew was a thug. Henri would be disgusted if he knew.

"Rules are rules," Sebastien said stubbornly.

"I can't wait to see that comment bite you on the bum," Gambit said.

"You know something? I'm _glad_ Oncle Remy's dead."

"Sebastien!" Aimee said, horrified.

"He's was next in line to be the Patriarch of the Thieves Guild and he wasn't even a real LeBeau. Mon père is next in line now. Which means one day I will be too," Sebastien said smugly.

Gambit gave Sebastien a long, cool look. He wondered if that was a sentiment his nephew actually meant, or it if was something he'd grow out of once he gained a few brain cells and lost a stack of hormones.

"You do realise that unless I did join the Guild, you—or your dear sister—would have been next in line after Père? I'm not even in the Guild and I know that," Gambit drawled, and then lost it: "You know what? Screw you Sebby. You don't hear me going around saying 'I wish your père was dead'. How would you like it if you lost both parents within six months of each other? Grow up."

"Grow up?" Sebastien sneered. "_You're_ telling _me_ to grow up? Hey you're the one who needs to grow up, _little_ cousin."

"You're not supposed to be _glad_ when people die, salaud," Gambit said, spitting out the insult.

Gambit's eyes began to glow in his fury. His nephew, whom he loved like his own son, was glad he was dead. It didn't matter whether Sebastien actually meant those words or not: it hurt. Alex and Leon looked at each other, unnerved by Gambit's glowing eyes.

"Oooh," Sebastien taunted. "What are you going to do? Blow up some _cards_ like your loser-père?"

Gambit's fingers twitched. Unfortunately, he'd been regressed to before he could blow things up, otherwise he might be tempted to give this kid what-for. Heck, he was tempted to give him what-for anyway. He had a lifetime of experience in Savate. He could kick Sebastien's butt even without blowing up cards. Before Gambit could retort, however, Aimee tugged at his hand.

"Remy," she said, a little nervously. "Do you want to see if Tante Mattie's got any goodies?"

Gambit let out a long breath, his eyes not leaving Sebastien. As tempting as it was, it was bad enough he'd risen to Sebastien's bait without making things worse. Not that he didn't deserve a good thrashing.

"Sure," Gambit said finally.

"Great," Aimee replied with obvious relief.

They stood and Aimee would have pulled Gambit away from the table completely if Sebastien hadn't chosen that moment to gloat:

"Wassa matta?" he said mockingly. "Poor little Remy's lost his père. Gonna go have a cry now?"

Looks like Sebastien was just itching for a fight. That was good, because Gambit was just itching to give him one. Gambit started to turn, only for Aimee to take his hand.

"Remy," she said tentatively.

Not in front of his niece.

"You'll keep," Gambit said, wishing his voice would hurry up and break because it would have sounded so much more ominous if it had been a couple of octaves lower.

Sebastien made goading noises as Gambit and Aimee left the room. Gambit ignored him and noticed that Storm and Mercy had already left—that would explain why Sebastien felt so at ease about making a scene like that.

"He always like that?" Gambit asked.

He'd certainly hadn't noticed any behaviour like that from him in the past, and if Henri or Mercy knew, there was no way they'd let him get away with it.

"Yeah, pretty much," Aimee replied ruefully. "Look, Remy, I'm really sorry about your père. I'm sorry he's...he's gone. I really liked him. He was nice and funny. I'm sure that Sebastien didn't mean what he said. He was just...being a jerk is all. I'm sure he really misses him too."

Gambit sighed.

"He shouldn't have said it at all."

"I know. I'm sorry."

"And you shouldn't apologise for him."

"Sorry."

"Do you have this love of the word 'sorry' or something?"

"Sorry—oh crap."

Gambit chuckled for a moment. Aimee gave him a wry smile.

"C'mon. Kitchen's this way."

Aimee practically dragged her 'cousin' down to the kitchen. Much to Gambit's surprise, she didn't go in the back way, but brazenly walked through the main doors.

"Hi Tante Mattie," Aimee said cheerfully. "Mmm are those chocolate muffins I smell?"

"Oui, they are petite," Tante Mattie replied as she dipped her hands into the flour.

"May we have a couple?"

Gambit blinked in surprise. She was _asking_ when it was practically tradition to steal goodies from Tante Mattie's kitchen?

"Don't be silly child. You'll spoil your dinners. Go on with you now. Get."

"Aww, 'kay," Aimee said woefully.

She grabbed Gambit's wrist and drew him out of this kitchen.

"This way," she said.

"Ooookay..."

Aimee lead Remy out the back to behind the kitchen. There, sitting on the window sill next to the back door to the kitchen was a plate with four large chocolate muffins. Aimee picked up the plate with delight.

"Have one," she encouraged him.

"Merci," Gambit replied, taking one of the muffins. "So... you just ask Tante Mattie, she says no, and puts some aside for you anyway?"

"Most of the time. If I don't ask too often," Aimee replied gleefully. "She likes to be asked and it means I never get caught stealing them."

"Ahh, and everyone thinks you're a good little girl who never gets into any trouble."

"But I _never_ get into any trouble," Aimee said, batting her eyes innocently.

Gambit laughed heartily.

* * *

Gambit went to his room for bed later that night. He frowned when he saw the light shining under the door. He opened it and his frown deepened when he saw Sebastien sitting on the bed, going through the drawers of his bedside table.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" Gambit demanded.

"Collecting my inheritance," Sebastien said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Désolé, perhaps you didn't hear? Mon père left everyt'ing to _moi_."

"Come now, you wouldn't deny your own cousin some memento of his favourite oncle?"

"He was your only oncle, unless Tante Mercy has some frères I don't about. And earlier today you were glad he was gone, in fact he wasn't even a 'real LeBeau'," Gambit snapped. "Get out."

"Make me."

"Fine."

Gambit stalked over and reefed Sebastien's hand out of the drawer. With his back to him, Gambit elbowed his nephew across his head, then hauled up Sebastien's legs and rolled him feet-over-head over the bed with enough momentum to slip off the edge and hit the floor with a loud thud. This was no mean feat as the bed was a queen size.

Gambit strode around to where Sebastien laid dazed on the ground and lifted him by the collar to his feet. He slammed him up against the wall.

"Don't you ever, _ever_ step foot in here again, got it?" Gambit practically snarled. "I can't believe you. After all the... Get out. Stay out."

There were so many things he wanted to say to him. But the plan was not to reveal his true identity until after the funeral. Yes, then there would be plenty of time to deal with his errant nephew. Steeling his jaw, Gambit pulled opened the door once more and began to force Sebastien out. Sebastien, however, had recovered from his daze and kicked out at him, trying to knock Gambit's feet out from under him. Gambit was too fast for him, having the advantage of enhanced speed, agility and dexterity on his side, not to mention a lot more years of experience and training. Gambit missed the blow easily and even managed to _gain_ footing in almost literally throwing Sebastien out the door.

"What in the world is going on here?" Henri demanded.

"He was going through my things," Gambit said darkly.

"I just... I just wanted something of Oncle Remy's, Père," Sebastien said meekly. "You know, to remember him by. I... I miss him."

Gambit stared at Sebastien in disbelief. He dissembled so easily and quickly. This was a great trait in a thief, of course, but it also explained why Henri and Mercy had never seen his bullying side—or he either for that matter. Henri let out a long breath.

"Sebastien, we haven't even had the funeral yet. I'm sure that Remy appreciates that you miss his père—he misses him too—but now is not the time."

"He came in uninvited and unwanted. He didn't even ask," Gambit went on. "He didn't leave when he was asked either. If he even _thinks_ about pulling a stunt like this again, I will beat the ever-loving crap out of him."

"Remy," Henri frowned at him. "I get that you're going through a hard time right now but—"

"There are no buts," Gambit interrupted. "And next time, I won't hold back."

Gambit turned and returned to his room, slamming the door shut behind him.


	8. Inappropriate Funeral Music

**Chapter 7: Inappropriate Funeral Music  
**

Gambit hid his smirk of satisfaction at the sight of the bruise across Sebastien's face as he entered the living room. Mercy was with her son with a photo album.

"Remy," she said pleasantly, although not without a slight tenseness to her voice. "I was just showing some photos of your père to Sebastien. Perhaps you'd like to join us?"

"Sure," Gambit said with a shrug.

This should be interesting. He sat down beside her and looked at the album that was resting on Mercy's lap. There was a family photo on one page with he and Henri as kids.

"Sebastien?" Mercy said. "Don't you have something you want to say to your cousin?"

"Oh yeah," Sebastien said seriously and with utmost sincerity in his voice. "Look, I'm sorry about last night. I wasn't thinking. I should have waited and I should have asked you first if you minded."

For a moment, Gambit said nothing, trying to decide how he wanted to go about this. He really didn't want to apologise to Sebastien at all, but neither did he want to strain Mercy's—or Henri's—good will towards him. He figured they were probably all letting them both off lightly for last night in the light of "his death". The fact that they would all learn the truth this evening was hardly the point.

"Remy?" Mercy coaxed.

"I just... I don't know how much more of mon père you guys saw than I did, but I really don't feel like I got to know him as well as I really wanted to," Gambit said finally. "But what really gets me is why you were going through mon père's magazines for a memento of him. I mean, he's probably laid every single one of those models, and I don't know about you, but the idea of jacking off to a picture of someone he's slept with is a real turn off for me."

Mercy stared with wide eyes while Sebastien spluttered indignantly.

"I... I didn't! I wasn't! I..."

"Sebastien—" Mercy began.

"He's making it up!" Sebastien insisted.

"You should really do that kind of thing in a bathroom anyway," Gambit added, nodding sagely. "Or at the very least, in your own room where you're not going to be walked in on."

"What? No!" Sebastien objected.

Mercy looked between the boys; one with a horrified expression on his face, the other with hurt (which would have looked all the more guileless if it wasn't for those eyes of his). She immediately regretted bringing the subject up.

"Oookay," she said and turned over the page. "Look here Remy, this is your père at about your age. See? He had your eyes then. Mon dieu, you look so much alike."

Gambit beamed and ignored the death glare that Sebastien was shooting him.

"I guess we do," he said cheerfully.

* * *

Gambit walked down the aisle of people at the cemetery amongst his family to the front row of seats. He didn't wear glasses so his red-on-black eyes were clearly visible for all to see. Anyone and everyone who had known Gambit as a child knew his "son" when they saw him. He was rather impressed with the turn out. Remembering, however, that he was supposed to be in mourning, Gambit hid his grin behind his poker face.

The priest gave a short message and finished with: "And now his brother, Henri, would like to share a few words."

Henri got up, looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"Well, uhh, before I begin, Remy had a music request," Henri said. "If we could play the track?"

Henri looked away from everyone as the first bars of "I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight" by Cutting Crew began to play from the portable stereo. Gambit put his hand up to his mouth and tried to keep from laughing too noticeably. It was so inappropriate on so many levels, but hey, he wasn't really dead. A few times he looked behind him to gauge the reaction of the crowd—he especially loved the disgusted, yet resigned look on Bella Donna's face, and he would definitely have to taunt Henri about being too gutless to face everyone while it was playing.

When the song was finished—and everyone was wished they _had_ walked away—Henri finally returned to the podium.

"So, uhh, hey what can you say about Remy except that he had a sense of humour, no?" he began tentatively. "Well, aside from being narcissistic, arrogant and really annoying. But umm, well, he was also charismatic, generous—although you wouldn't know it from how he played poker—and you always knew you could count on him. I was fifteen when Père adopted him and I remember I resented him bringing in this skinny, dirty pup off the street. Then I started to feel sorry for him. For the first few months he kept squirrelling away supplies in his room like he was scared we were going to put him back out on the street again. It took us awhile to break him of that."

Henri paused to take a breath and collect himself. He then went on to share a few short stories (tailored so that the non Thieves Guild members in the audience wouldn't know any better) and finally ended with: "He wasn't just mon frère, he was mon ami too, and we're going to miss you Remy."

It wasn't long after that that they began to lower the casket into the ground and despite his earlier amusement, Gambit had to look away. He was abruptly and painfully aware that this had nearly been a real funeral. He had spent all those weeks well aware that he was dying but until now it hadn't really hit home. A shiver went down his spine as he and Storm headed back to the car with his family. Silently he got in, scooted straight over to the window and stared outside. He hadn't been one to put a whole lot of stock in God or anything, but he hadn't simply cheated death: by some miracle he'd been regressed to pre-Stryker. He had gotten not only his eyes back, but the chance to live his life over. That wasn't something he could so easily dismiss.

"Of all the songs Remy had to pick for today he had do go and pick that one," Henri said disgustedly. "I swear, he did it just to embarrass me."

"Somehow I doubt that he knew you'd be the one to give the eulogy, cher," Mercy replied.

"I think that you handled it pretty well," Storm said. "But let's be honest with ourselves here, are you really surprised at his choice?"

"No," Henri replied ruefully. "Not in the slightest. In fact I feel like I should have seen it coming a mile away. I mean, seriously, only Remy would pick a song about having an—"

Mercy coughed and Henri was abruptly aware of the two teenagers and his twelve-year-old daughter in the car.

"About having a good time with his girlfriend," Storm finished.

"Yes. That."

"I don't get it," Sebastien frowned. "Wasn't it about dying in his girlfriend's arms? How is that a good time?"

There was silence as the adults looked awkwardly at each other.

"'Death' is a metaphor for orgasm," Gambit said. "It's a song about having sex."

Henri and Mercy looked at Gambit, wincing that first he knew that, and second that he had actually said it. Storm and Jean-Luc looked at each other in silent acknowledgement of "of course he would tell him".

"Ohhh," Sebastien said, a slow grin crossing his face. "Hey that's really funny."

"Like I said, he had a sense of humour," Henri said dryly. "Just how did you know that, Remy? Oh, never mind, I just answered my own question. Père, did you see Bella Donna and her Assassins there?"

"Oui, I did," Jean-Luc replied. "As was her daughter... what's her name?"

"Mignonette," Merci supplied.

"Mignonette," Jean-Luc repeated.

"Probably wanted to make sure he was actually dead," Henri said bitterly.

"I shall have a chat with Bella Donna," Jean-Luc said. "Hopefully some good can come of this, and the fighting between our Guilds will die down for awhile."

"Has it been that bad?" asked Storm.

"I may be biased—and not to speak ill of the dead and all that—but Julien was the main instigator. This rivalry between him and Remy had gotten quite out of hand."

"In fairness, Père, Remy wasn't exactly beneath provoking him," Henri said.

"They were both at fault," Mercy said firmly. "But, credit where credit is due, Remy was at least capable of discretion. Remy certainly never would have stooped so low as to actually poison—"

Mercy broke off them, her voice choking up and she looked away. Henri rubbed her arm soothingly.

"Regardless, my point still stands," Jean-Luc said. "If Bella Donna can see reason, and doesn't choose to hold the Thieves or the LeBeau's responsible for Julien's death, hopefully things can finally calm down."

"That's assuming she can keep Julien's friends in line," Henri said.

"I'm sure Bella Donna is quite capable of handling her Assassins just fine. The rivalry was a problem because it was between a Patriarch and an heir. Had it been a problem between two lower ranking members, we would not have had this much trouble."

"Oui. At least the timing's right. A couple more years and we would have had to deal with Marcus as Patriarch."

"We will not even discuss the possibility of Julien's son taking over the Guild."

Gambit sighed and shook his head. Fighting with Julien had almost become a way of life. It had gone beyond his relationship with Bella Donna. Gambit had no idea how everything had gone out of hand. He and Bella Donna had been arranged to be married, to unite the Guilds and bring peace. But Bella Donna's father had died from a heart attack exactly two weeks before they were due to be wed and the first thing that Julien had done upon his ascension was to call it off.

It hadn't stopped him and Bella Donna seeing each other though.

"Listen you three," Henri said, looking at Gambit and his niece and nephew. "Stay away from Bella Donna, Mignonette and the Assassins, got it?"

"Unless you're with me or your parents," Jean-Luc added mildly. "I don't believe Remy will escape being introduced to Bella Donna."

Henri nodded and gave Gambit a stern look.

"Be on your best behaviour, please Remy," Henri said. "I don't know how much your père would have told you, but relations between the Guilds are not good right now."

"I will," Gambit said quietly.

Not long thereafter, Storm and the LeBeaus arrived at the Wake. Jean-Luc put his hand on Gambit shoulder after they got out of the car.

"You stay with me, Remy," he instructed.

"D'accord."

"Remy? Are you all right, mon fils?"

"Just sorta thinking about how this was almost the real thing."

Jean-Luc nodded slowly, then leaned over to give Gambit a hug.

"But it wasn't," Jean-Luc said. "And for that I am most grateful."

* * *

It was a very select group of people at the dinner table that evening. Jean-Luc sat at the head of the table. On either side of him were Storm and Tante Mattie, then Emil and Theoren, Mercy and Henri, Aimee and Sebastian and finally Gambit at the other end facing opposite Jean-Luc.

"So Remy," said Emil. "What's it like living with 'Ro?"

"It's good," Gambit replied. "It's pretty crowded, but it's nice not having to hide my eyes all the time."

"Well, that would be the benefit of living at a mutant school. So, you got a girlfriend?"

"I've got a friend who's a girl. Does that count?"

"Just one friend who's a girl?"

"I have another friend who's a woman," Gambit said with a wink at Storm.

"Oh well, that's more like it," Emil joked. "For a moment then I thought the resemblance was purely superficial."

"Believe me," Mercy said dryly. "It's not."

Theoren chuckled.

"Giving you a run for your money, is he Mercy?" Theoren asked.

"Sometimes I feel like I _am_ talking to his père," Mercy replied.

After the main course, Jean-Luc called for everyone's attention.

"Theo, Emil, I'm sure you're wondering why I did not invite your dear wives to this evening, nor your children when Sebastien and Aimee are here. This is because what I—Remy rather—have to share with you is not to go out of this room. It is not to become common knowledge amongst the Guilds; I will not risk the Assassins finding out. Sebastien, Aimee, that goes double for you. You are not to tell your friends at all. Is that clear? Because if it's not, you may be excused."

"It's clear," Sebastien said.

"It's clear," Aimee repeated only a second after.

"Bon," Jean-Luc said and gave Gambit a nod. "Remy."

Gambit smiled, a big silly grin forming on his face.

"Henri! Mon frère, thanks for the eulogy. It was beautiful. I felt so loved. Although, that's not quite how I remember the water fountain story going. I am sorry you didn't like my taste in funeral music though. And Mercy, you cried. And after all the times you kept saying you wouldn't miss me if I left! I guess you were just making things up, no? On by the way, Sebby-boy over here? Going to be a great con artist one day. He's got you all convinced he isn't a bully and a thug. Aimee's the one you really have to worry about though," Gambit said, grinning at each in turn. "She's going to end up running the Guild one day, you'll see. And Emil! Trust you to ask about a girlfriend. Sadly, I think I'm off the dating market for the next five years, unless I can find some chick online. That might be fun for a change. So, Theo, what's with the new hair cut? Didn't anyone tell you mullets were out?"

Everyone stared. Storm shook her head with an amused smile. Jean-Luc sighed, bemused and Tante Mattie simply looked at Gambit.

"Oh I'm sorry," Gambit said gleefully. "I forgot to tell you: You see, the Cure made me age rapidly, right? But then when it wore off it reversed the aging progress and went even faster the other direction. In fact, it even went a little overboard and well, here I am: Remy Etienne LeBeau the _First_."

With those last words, Gambit stood on his chair and did an elaborate bow.

"Merde."

"You're... you're..."

"That's insane!"

"You know," Mercy said, still staring at Gambit. "I did think it was awfully convenient that a son would just happen to show up around the same time Remy... died."

Gambit chucked.

"Not to mention odd that the only person he left anything to was his son," she added.

"What can I say? I'm greedy. I wanted to keep all my cool stuff," Gambit replied. "Oh wait, Sebby-boy, I have something for you."

"Uhh, you do?" Sebastien asked nervously.

"Sure I do," Gambit said gleefully, handing him a magazine that he'd been keeping under the cushion on his chair.

"Remy, if that's what I think it is, you can keep it to yourself," Mercy said sternly.

"Now see this sexy woman on the cover? Her name is Sonya. I had a one night stand with her," Gambit told Sebastien and then turned a couple of pages. "And this is Katie. We dated for two months. I slept with Susanne three times and... you know what? I've got all the notes here in bold, black marker. Y'know, to remind you when you try jacking off that your oncle has done the real thing."

"Remy!" Mercy exclaimed. "Don't encourage him."

"Encourage him?" Gambit smirked. "Ha! I'm scarring him for life. Look at the sick look on his face. He's never going to be able to look at a nude magazine again without wondering if I've slept with the real woman. By the way, Thug-boy, if in doubt, the answer is yes."

"And don't call him a thug."

"But he is a thug," Gambit replied. "He uses bullying tactics on Alex, Leon and Aimee and tried them on me. Let's see, what was it you said? You were _glad_ I was dead, and I wasn't a real LeBeau?"

"I never said that," Sebastien objected as he noticeably paled.

"Yes you did," Aimee said with a nervous glance at Gambit. "We... we all heard you."

"There you go," Tante Mattie said smugly. "Didn't I tell you that you needed to keep a tighter reign on that boy?"

"I didn't!" Sebastien objected.

"We'll talk to you later," Henri promised his son before looking back at Gambit. "So... you're really Remy? Mon frère Remy, that is."

"Oui. Ask me anything. No really _any_thing," Gambit said mischievously.

"Where do babies come from?" Emil asked with a grin.

"Well, there's an ironic question, don't you think Stormy? Okay Emil, it's like this—"

"I can vouch for Remy's story," Storm interrupted. "I saw the rapid aging myself, and the even faster regression. For awhile there we were worried he was going to age back too far, but according to Hank—Dr McCoy—his body and aging process has finally stabilised. Remy's planning on staying with us awhile longer though, however, just to make certain it stays that way."

"Not that I'm not glad you're still alive Remy but... why didn't anyone tell us sooner?" Theoren demanded.

"Appearances," Jean-Luc said. "It was my decision, and the only person I told before now was Etienne, because I needed him to organise the paperwork. The Assassins must not know that Remy is still alive. Things are far too precarious at the moment. By some miracle Remy's still alive and now we can hide him under their very nose without them suspecting a thing. Oui, this will work out quite nicely. Of course, it does mean that Henri, you will be leading the Guild when I retire next year."

Henri gave a curt nod.

"It also means, Remy, that for appearances sake you may have to rejoin the Guild," Jean-Luc said.

"I'll think about it," Gambit replied. "But to be honest, Père, I'm planning on staying with the X-men for a few years. It's not simply that Hank wants me to hang around it's... Well I'm pre-Stryker now, you know? Other than my eyes I was never sure what he did to me and now I have a chance for my powers to redevelop. What better place for me to be than at a place that specialises in mutant abilities? That's assuming Stormy will have me that long."

"Sure, Remy. As long as you behave yourself," Storm replied with a smile.

"Badly?" Gambit asked with bright eyes.

"Good behaviour."

"Oh well, in that case I guess I'll be back here in about six months, if that," Gambit joked.

"I'm sure we can arrange something one way or another as far as your Guild membership is concerned, Remy," Henri said. "I'm just happy you're alive. You just... you left and the next thing we hear is that you died but you have a son you never told us about and _merde_, I can hardly believe it."

"And you're the one who doesn't have to go through puberty again."

Emil cracked up laughing.

"Okay, now I _know_ it's our Remy."


	9. The First Class

**AN: **I want to give a particular shout out to wiccamage, whose advice about "floating heads" I kept in mind in particular when editing this chapter. It really helped a lot, although I'm not sure if I've gone quite as far with it as you suggested/expected.

The PHD in LUV joke is credited to LizzieTurbo.

Remy's response to "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" came out of my head and I'm just so pleased with myself, hehehe. Normally I say "Because Poe wrote on both".

James Proudstar and Risque are comicverse, Jimmy is the name given to Leech in the movieverse and Artie is movieverse.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 8: The First Class**

Rogue leaned against the doorway and looked into Gambit's room at Xavier's with a bemused expression on her face.

"Whatcha do?" she asked as she noted all the cardboard boxes scattered about Gambit's reasonably large room. "Pack up _all_ of New Orleans to bring back with you?"

Gambit looked up from his unpacking and grinned at her.

"Not quite," he said. "Mostly personal stuff, and things I didn't want my thug-of-a-nephew getting his paws on."

"I thought your family were thieves. Wouldn't that be a good sign?" Rogue asked cheekily.

"Did I tell you my family were thieves?" Gambit asked, frowning slightly. He was sure he hadn't mentioned the family business to her.

"Nope. Logan did. At first I thought he was just having a go at you."

Gambit chuckled as he opened up another box.

"Well, no," he told her matter-of-factly. "'Thug' is not considered a compliment. We're very elitist."

"Ooooh," Rogue teased.

"As far as we're concerned, if you have to resort to bully tactics to steal anything you're not good enough to join the Guild," Gambit said seriously, ignoring the bemused expression on Rogue's face. "It's about subtly, finesse, skill and of course, the money. Picking pockets might be just as profitable as mugging, but it requires greater skill and less chance of getting caught or being identified. All thugs need is a scary face and a weapon."

"Hmm, so your nephew being a thug is a grave insult, huh?" Rogue inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Oui, but hopefully it's not too late to learn him. Kid could be a great con artist if he bothers to apply himself."

Rogue burst out laughing.

"What?" Gambit asked as he put a stack of DVDs away in the rack.

"I'm sorry it's just... con artist isn't exactly an honest career."

"So?"

"So," Rogue replied, uncertain of whether to be amused or alarmed at just how casual Gambit was about all of this. "It sounds odd hearing someone take such delight in the idea that he could be a great one if he bothered to 'apply himself'."

"Yes, well, I happened to be an awesome thief myself," Gambit said smugly. "Actually, that's something good about being short. Easier to get into places, hmm..."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," Rogue said quickly and changed the subject: "How'd the funeral go?"

"Yeah, pretty good. Nice big turnout, so I felt so loved. No Guild fights, which was a bonus, and no one spat in my grave either."

"Oh well, that's good," Rogue replied, wondering if the grave-spitting thing had actually been a possibility.

"I thought so," Gambit agreed cheerfully, pulling out another stack of DVDs from the box. "Completely freaked the family out though. I mean, they were all glad to see me alive and well, I just think the age thing weirded them out."

"Yeah probably."

"What about your family?" Gambit asked curiously.

"I'm living with them," Rogue replied quietly. "I'm a runaway."

"Ahh. Désolé."

"You didn't know."

"You planning on standing there? Or do you want to give me a hand with all this?" Gambit asked and gestured at the boxes.

"Ha, well as much as I'd love to stay here—"

"—I'm sure—"

"—I'm actually on my way to a therapy session with Emma, so I can't stay long," Rogue replied. "Just dropped by to see how things went."

"Ahh, Emma huh? Tell her—"

"No. She already gives me a hard time for hanging out with you, let alone showing you mercy," Rogue cut in firmly. "She's also the one helping me with my powers right now so I'm definitely _not_ going to start passing on antagonising messages from you. I need her a lot more than I need you, Remy."

"But you _want_ me more."

Rogue gave him a cynical look and raised her eyebrow. Gambit sighed resignedly.

"I wish my voice would hurry up and break," he said. "If I'm physically thirteen it should be happening any time."

Rogue laughed.

"See ya around, Remy," she said over her shoulder, touching the door frame as she made her way out.

"See ya," Gambit replied, then added quickly before she disappeared from sight: "Oh, hey Roguey?"

"Yeah?"

"You..." He stopped to clear his throat then went on tentatively: "You go to church right?"

"Uh huh," Rogue confirmed, watching curiously as Gambit started avoiding her eyes and looking back into the box.

"Do you mind if I join you sometime?" he asked, his eyes focused on the next batch of DVDs.

"Sure," Rogue smiled. "There's a bunch of us that do. We meet at nine-thirty out the front. Service starts at ten, so that gives us time to get there, get seats and mingle a bit before the service starts."

"Okay, cool. I might do that."

"We'd love to have you."

* * *

Church seemed like a good idea, until the bus pulled up outside it. Gambit didn't budge from his seat as the others filed past, to busy staring with grim horror at the building through the windows.

What was he doing?

"Remy? You coming?" asked Rogue.

Gambit turned his head. The bus was empty for all but Logan—who had been driving the bus—and Rogue. To say that Logan had been surprised (not to mention shocked and dumbfounded) when he realised Gambit had actually wanted to go to Church this morning would be putting it mildly.

"I, umm..." Gambit swallowed nervously.

Logan snickered.

"Chickening out, Squeaky?" Logan asked with a smirk.

Gambit looked away.

"Here, give me the keys," Rogue said to Logan. "I'll lock up."

"I'll see you in there," Logan replied pointedly as he tossed the keys to her.

Logan left and Rogue sat down next to Gambit with one leg curled under her, one arm on the back of the chair and the other arm on the back of the chair in front.

"You okay?" she asked, studying him carefully.

For a long moment, Gambit didn't reply.

"I don't belong in there," he said finally.

"Hmm. What makes you say that?" she asked seriously.

"I'm a thief, chère. A thief—and I'm proud of it. That's two deadly sins right there," Gambit replied, keeping his eyes on the seat in front. "A murderer too, I guess. Not so proud of that one, though."

"So?" Rogue demanded. "Didn't anyone ever tell you a church is a club for sinners?"

Gambit laughed.

"No," he said. "I can't say I've ever heard that one before."

"Well, it is," Rogue grinned at him, still waiting for him to actually look back at her. "No one who goes to church is guiltless. We've all done stuff we're not proud of—or know we shouldn't do, but do anyway. Heck, even people who've been going to church all their lives still screw up. It's all part of the human experience. It's not about what you _have_ done, it's about what you plan on doing about it."

"And I really don't think that someone with eyes like mine should really be walking into places like that," he said, still avoiding her gaze.

"Okay, now you're just making excuses," Rogue replied, rolling her eyes and putting her hand on his knee. "I told you, they don't have problems with mutants here. Besides, you haven't met Kurt yet. Trust me, if they can accept his appearance here, they can accept yours too. C'mon Remy, if you're this... concerned about coming here, why did you even bother coming in the first place?"

"Because I can't ignore what's happened to me. I get to relive twenty-six years of my life. Everything that Stryker did to me has been undone. It's been nothing short of a miracle, chère. I guess I just wanted to pay my respects to the one who made it possible," Gambit sighed and shook his head. "I haven't been in a church in years."

"I'm a little surprised you've been in one at all," Rogue admitted.

"Sure. Whole family."

"Wow, seriously?" Rogue asked, trying to picture an organised crime family going to church.

"I thought you said a church was a club for sinners, chère," Gambit responded, his eyes finally shifting to her lower half.

"I did. I was amused, not criticising."

Gambit sighed again.

"Remy," Rogue said patiently. "If you're looking for answers, you've come to the right place, but you're definitely talking to the wrong person. I don't know why this happened to you. Heck, maybe it's not even about you. Maybe God was answering _my_ prayers."

Gambit laughed and finally lifted his gaze to look at her. He placed his hand over hers, where it still laid resting on his knee.

"You go on ahead," he said. "I think I might just stay here for now."

"I'll keep you company," Rogue decided, making herself more comfortable on the seat.

"No, no," he insisted, lifting her hand and putting it on her own leg. "I wouldn't want to spoil your plans. Seriously, I'll be fine. I shouldn't have come in the first place. Besides, Logan's expecting you."

"Actually he's expecting both of us," Rogue drawled with a slight grin. "So, it's up to you. We can stay in the bus, or we can go inside, or if you're really indecisive, we can stand at the doorway."

Gambit looked at Rogue helplessly.

"You're not just going to let me off, are you?" he asked.

"Nope."

"Well, you suck."

"Yeah, I am rather fond of boiled candy."

"Smart ass."

"You only wish you were as smart as my ass."

"Nah, my ass is too cute to be a nerd."

"Do you apply that same theory to your face, pretty-boy?"

"No, but I suspect you do. Is it uncomfortable sitting on your brains all day, chérie?"

Thus it was for the duration of the service that the two ended up sitting in the bus, altering between friendly banter and companionable silence. Rogue refrained from commenting that Gambit had nicely avoided verbalising any decision one way or another about going inside. Neither escaped the disapproving look on Logan's face on the return of the others, although it was primarily directed to Gambit, rather than Rogue.

* * *

"Logan? There's something you wanted me to see?" Storm asked as she walked down the hall the following morning to where Logan was standing, glaring at the door of Gambit's classroom.

"Yep," Logan said, pointing his finger at the nameplate on the door. "Squeaky's been taking some liberties."

Storm looked at the nameplate and grinned, though she tried to hide it. The nameplate read:

_Sex Education  
R.E. LeBeau, PHD in LUV_

"It's not funny," Logan insisted.

"Well, when I said he could—"

"You gave him permission?"

"—I didn't realise this was quite what he had in mind. Now Logan, he's the only one that uses this classroom, and everyone else with an office or only one classroom that they use has something on the door. Even you do," Storm pointed out, now not bothering to hide her amusement at the aggravated look on Logan's face.

"I do not have the words 'PHD in Love' on my door," Logan practically growled, his eyes narrowed at Storm.

"Well, you have room for it. I'm sure you could put it on there if you really wanted to," Storm teased him.

"Very funny."

* * *

On Thursday Rogue joined the students heading into Gambit's first class, feeling rather awkward and out of place. She ignored the looks the students shot in her direction and mentally cursed Logan for getting her to do this. As she stepped into the classroom she could see Gambit up the front, sitting on the desk and chatting with Storm. He noticed her almost immediately and threw her an odd look.

"Roguey? What are you doing here?" Gambit asked, regarding her curiously.

Rogue sighed and moved away from the students to join Gambit and Storm.

"Logan wanted me to spy on you," Rogue said, then started shifting her eyes from side to side. "Oops, I mean he's actually concerned that the last time I did this course I may not have paid attention because I couldn't touch anyone then."

Gambit laughed.

"I forgot about that," Storm said ruefully and turned back to address Gambit. "Logan's a little... concerned about what you're going to be teaching the students."

"Of course he is," Gambit smirked.

"Yeah, well, all I'm gonna say is you had better not give me one of those dolls," Rogue said firmly, pointing her finger at Gambit. "I swear, you even _consider_ it and I will shove it up your ass. Sideways."

"Why chère, if you wanted to see my ass you should have just said so," Gambit replied mischievously, his hands going to his belt buckle.

"I think I understand why Logan's so concerned," Rogue said dryly, looking away.

"Hmm you're right. Too many witnesses," Gambit said conspiratorially and leaned into Rogue with a wink. "We can have a private viewing later."

"You do realise you're not supposed to flirt with your students, right?" Rogue asked, glaring at him.

"Aww chère, if I can't flirt with you, who can I flirt with? It's creepy with anyone else. Except maybe Emma because it's fun to annoy her. Hmm," Gambit considered and rubbed his chin. "That's probably the real reason why Logan got you to attend."

"Could be," Rogue smirked at him.

"Well, looks like everyone is here," Storm said, looking around the room. "We should get started."

Rogue managed to get the last seat at the back of the room as Storm and Gambit turned to address the class.

"Everyone," Storm said as the room fell silent. "This is Mr LeBeau, or Gambit. Like Rogue, Gambit is a lot older than he appears and I expect you to treat him with the respect you would treat any other teacher here."

Storm turned to Gambit and gave him a nod, then left the room. Gambit waited until the door closed behind her and then looked over the students once more before addressing them:

"I prefer Gambit. Mr LeBeau makes me think of mon père—my father. Alternatively, you may call me," Gambit said and struck a pose, "the Love Doctor."

The class giggled in response.

"All right then, any questions?"

An awkward silence followed.

"No? Well you're not much fun are you? I thought maybe instead of diving straight into things we might want to get all the silliness out of the way. This is a bit of an odd situation. I mean, I do look the same age as you guys. I bet it's probably hard to believe this is the second time I've had to go through puberty."

There was some more giggles.

"C'mon, don't be shy," Gambit coaxed. "I won't bite. Much. Rogue, ask me a question. Anything."

"Anything?" Rogue drawled, a little taken aback at having been volunteered.

"Anything at all."

"That's dangerous."

"I'm a dangerous kind of guy."

Rogue considered for a moment, seriously contemplating asking a question for the sole purpose of making fun of him, but decided that probably wasn't the wisest course on his first day teaching. She then took another moment to marvel at her restraint.

"Okay," Rogue said finally. "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"

"Well, that's not quite what I had in mind but..." Gambit paused and considered. "Because Mystique can shapeshift."

Rogue laughed.

"For those who don't know, Mystique's real name is Raven Darkholme," Gambit added for the students benefit. "Any other questions? Oui? Non? You're all very shy aren't you? Does anyone want to guess my age?"

After the moment of silence that followed, Rogue turned her head to the boy next to her, James Proudstar, and whispered loudly: "He's a hundred." Gambit rolled his eyes with a smirk and the class giggled.

"Are you a hundred?" James asked.

"Non."

"Two hundred?" asked Artie.

"Wrong direction," Gambit replied.

"Fifty?" suggested Risque.

"Getting warmer."

"Forty?"

"Close. Very close."

"Forty-one?"

"Wrong direction."

"Thirty-nine?"

"Oui, thirty-nine. Ahh, you have a question?"

"Are you the mutant Rogue absorbed that made her younger too?"

"Oui. Was a side-effect of the Cure. I've had a long time rivalry with this other guy back home and giving me the Cure was his idea of a joke. Joke's on him now. Which brings us to today's lesson: relationships," Gambit said grinning at them. "You can delay todays lesson by asking me questions. Incidentally, if you guys have some burning question that you're too embarrassed or shy to ask in front of the class, you can ask me outside of class. I may bring the question up in the next class—if you want to know, chances are some of your friends do too. I won't tell you who asked me. Girls, if you're not comfortable coming to me directly, you can ask Rogue, who's here as my teaching assistant. She'll pass the question on. Or answer it. Depends on the question, I guess."

Gambit grinned at Rogue and she smiled back. Teaching assistant was much better than 'student' (even if he had just organised more work for her).

"All right then," Gambit went on cheerfully. "As I said, today we're talking about relationships. I know, I know, you would all rather talk about sex, but the fact is that you can' t have sex without a relationship. Even if you hire a hooker there's still a relationship. It's a business relationship, but a relationship nonetheless. Does anyone want to name a few other kinds of relationships?"

There was a moment of silence and then Risque piped up with "Romantic?"

"Bon. What else?"

"Friendship."

"Oui. Go on."

"Friends with benefits," James yelled out.

"Oui, that counts," Gambit chuckled. "Anything else? There are a lot more kinds of relationship than just that. What about parent/child?"

"Brother/sister."

"Rivalry?"

"Oui."

"What relationship do you and Ms Frost have?" asked Jimmy.

"Hmm, good question," Gambit considered. "A rivalry, maybe. Friendly enemies. Oh, I know. Rivals with benefits. Except unlike friends with benefits, the 'benefits' part is talking about sleeping together, not actually sleeping together. Let's face it, we're both highly attractive people, why wouldn't we perv on each other? Okay, actually, I'm the attractive one. Emma's just a skank."

Rogue coughed.

"Mind you," Gambit said seriously. "Emma and I have known each other over twenty years. I can get away with treating her with disrespect. You may not. She's your teacher and while I don't know how good she is at keeping her personal and professional lives separate, I do know she is very good a keeping a grudge. Mind your manners—and your thoughts—at least until you're graduated. Guys, I know the thoughts part is going to be hard—in more ways than one—when she dresses the way she does, but try anyway. Girls, while we're on the subject, my advice to you is to not dress like Emma. If you're going to dress like a whore, expect to be treated like one. Especially when you're out in public—there are just some places you can't go and expect to be able to leave with your virtue intact."

The class progressed and Rogue watched Gambit with amusement. He simply could not sit still. He had to be moving, even if it was just playing with a deck of cards. Nevertheless, despite his comment about a private viewing of his behind earlier, Rogue was rather impressed with his professional—if slightly unconventional—attitude to teaching. She was also pleased to see that the students were willing to pay attention and not muck up: whether that was because of Storm's command, the fact that she was there (no one ever messed with Logan's assistant) or simply the way Gambit handled himself. He certainly had a commanding presence. Yes, the rest of this course was certainly going to be very interesting.

At the conclusion, while the students filed out of the room, Rogue made her way to the front of the class.

"So, how'd I go?" Gambit asked.

"Yeah, pretty good," Rogue said. "A little surprised you didn't try to encourage them to harass Emma."

Gambit laughed.

"As tempting as that idea is," he said, "I wouldn't be able to witness the fireworks. Besides, I think Stormy might get annoyed with me if I started teaching them to disrespect the teachers."

"Probably," Rogue agreed, tucking a lock of white hair behind her ear "Oh, umm, thanks for not making me a student, although I don't know that I should be thanking you for roping me into answering questions for you."

"Well, I figured the girls would probably feel more comfortable talking to you about women stuff than me. I mean, the reproductive system does come up, but y'know."

"Are you going to try to avoid talking about periods?" Rogue teased.

"Can't can I? It in the curriculum," Gambit replied ruefully, smirking at the merriment in Rogue's bright green eyes. "Although I would imagine you guys have already spoken to the girls about that stuff, 'least when they were younger."

"Depends when they join us. Most of them don't come here until after their powers have manifested and that's usually after it's already started."

"Well, that's fair enough. Thanks for helping out today."

"Helping out?" Rogue blinked. "I just sat there and made smart comments."

"You helped to keep everything comfortable," Gambit said, stopping briefly in his card springing to point at her. "And you broke up awkward silences. Stormy wants me to be approachable out of the classroom because she's concerned about them looking up stuff on the internet or whatever and she thinks that because I look their age they might feel happier talking to me than one of the adults. Well, adult-looking adults."

Rogue laughed.

"Well, I'm happy to help," she said. "Makes me feel like there's actually a point to me being here. By the way, are you like, incapable of standing still?"

"Hmm? Oh," Gambit chuckled. "Yeah, pretty much."

"I bet you drove your teachers nuts will all your fidgeting."

"Actually I was home-schooled."

"Oh really?"

"Oui. So if you ask me," Gambit said, leaning into Rogue, "all this school stuff is kinda weird."

"Well, I guess from your point of view it would be, huh?" Rogue conceded with an amused shrug, and a small step towards the door. "Anyway, I should get going. I've got class in a bit."

"They really have you running around here, don't they? What class?"

"'Wear out the little kids' class," Rogue joked. "PE for the youngest kids here. Hey, you should join us. Maybe we can do something about that excess energy you seem to have."

"Sure, why not? I've got nothing better to do at the moment," Gambit replied with a shrug, putting his cards back into his pocket.

"Yeah? Teaching sex ed's all they've got you doing?"

"Well, they've got me on chores."

"Ha, everyone's on chores," Rogue said with a grin as she headed out the door.

"I didn't think there was an escape from that," Gambit smirked from close behind. "I suspect Stormy wants to know how this class goes and if it looks like I can keep 'em in line, give me something else to teach."

"Possibly. I know she'd love to get some of my contemporaries teaching if the students would actually pay attention to them."

"They still pay attention to you?"

"Yeah. I suspect it's probably because I'm usually seen in Logan's company," Rogue replied. "Either that, or they remember when I had a scary mutation."

"Maybe they're just stunned by your beauty."

"Nah I don't think that's it."

"Why not, chère?" Gambit asked as he took the liberty of slipping his arm around her waist. "I was."

"Remy?" Rogue said, her eyes looking forward.

"Oui?"

"Take your arm off me before I take it off for you."

Gambit pulled his hand away and reached into his pocket for his cards once more, which he began to spring from hand to hand as they walked.

"That's better," Rogue said.

"I don't want you to be uncomfortable with me chère," Gambit said with a smile. "You and I are in the same boat no?"

"I just..." Rogue stopped and sighed before continuing: "It's not that I'm not flattered, but I'm dating Bobby."

"I know."

"And coma or not, I just don't feel right about it when you touch me like that."

"I shall attempt to restrain myself."

"I'd appreciate it."


	10. You Can't Spell 'STUD' Without 'STD'

**Chapter 9: You Can't Spell 'STUD' Without 'STD'**

"Something wrong, mon ami?" Gambit asked, not even bothering to look up from his card game.

"Rogue's my assistant, not yours," Logan said, practically growling as he stood looking down on him.

"Then you shouldn't have sent her to my class as a spy. She knows what the class is supposed to teach, Logan."

"She might, but I'm not so sure that you do."

"Aww, after all this time," Gambit said, lifting his head to smirk at him. "Any one would think you didn't trust me."

"I trust you to watch my back—mostly—I don't trust you when it comes to sex and impressionable young women," Logan replied, pointing his finger at him.

"Evidently. Which does make me wonder why you've sent Rogue to spy on my sex ed class. Wouldn't she be an 'impressionable young woman'?" Gambit teased him.

"Rogue has a good head on her shoulders."

"But if you're worried about me teaching...advanced stuff, aren't you concerned she might get _interested_?" Gambit said suggestively (or as suggestively as he could with his high-pitched voice).

"If she does, she'll wait for Bobby," Logan replied confidently. "She won't cheat on her boyfriend, especially when he's in a coma she put him in."

"Hmm, you're probably right at that. Rogue does strike me as the noble type," Gambit considered with a nod.

"I'm surprised you even know what that word means," Logan drawled, sitting down at a free chair.

"Still," Gambit said, looking back at his card game. "What about after?"

"After what?" Logan asked with a blink and a slight frown on his face.

"After Bobby wakes from his coma," Gambit said, giving Logan a sly smile.

"Rogue's not the cheating kind."

"We've established that."

"What are you getting at, Squeaky?"

"I'm just... curious to know how long their relationship is going to last after he wakes up, that's all. And if they do break up, are you going to still be worried about me and your precious Rogue?" Gambit smirked and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Or were you planning on moving in on her yourself?"

"Hardly," Logan dismissed. "And what makes you so sure they're going to break up? They've been together over two years now and most of that Rogue's powers were active. I'd say that says a lot about their longevity."

"Oui, that does improve the odds," Gambit conceded. "All I'm going to say is that six years is a long time when you're already a teenager to begin with."

* * *

There was giggling when Rogue arrived at Gambit's class the next week. Gambit was perched on the edge of the desk, springing a deck of cards from one hand to the other and he grinned at Rogue while he watched her read the name of the day's lesson on the black board.

"'We Were Born Naked, Wet and Hungry: Then Things Got Worse'," Rogue said aloud.

"Oui," Gambit replied cheekily. "Today we're discussing puberty."

"Well, you would be the authority on that, wouldn't you?"

"That's what I thought."

Rogue snickered and took her seat.

* * *

"Okay," Gambit said to the class. "Today's lesson does not have a funny title, because today's lesson isn't even the slightest bit funny: 'Predator and Prey'. Contrary to popular opinion, it's actually the people you know you have to be wary of. When you think about it, that's pretty sad. So today we shall be discussing peer pressure and sexual abuse."

* * *

"Today we're going to talk about the Good Stuff. That is, we're finally going to cover how you actually have sex," Gambit said. "First a demonstration, if Rogue wouldn't mind getting on the desk—"

"Excuse me? I don't think so," Rogue objected.

"Darn," Gambit joked, snapping his fingers. "There goes my plan for a _Monty Python: The Meaning of Life_ take off. Oh well, it doesn't really work unless you can pull the bed out of the wall anyway. Right, to start with, you have foreplay. Now guys, I know it can be tempting to skip the foreplay, but it's easier to get inside and less painful for the girl if she's all... wet."

Rogue sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She sensed this was going to be a long class.

* * *

Rogue raised her eyebrows as she walked into the classroom. Gambit was quite happily standing on the desk (which he had pushed against the wall) and writing on the blackboard. When he moved out of the way, Rogue could see the name of the day's lesson: "You Can't Spell 'STUD' Without 'STD'." Rogue snickered as she took her seat.

"You approve?" Gambit asked, grinning at her.

"Very clever," Rogue drawled.

"I'd like to take credit for it, but I stole it from somewhere. I forget where."

"So, I'm guessing we're talking about STDs today?"

"Actually we're talking about a stud. Namely, me," Gambit said, striking a pose briefly, then grinning brightly at Rogue. "Only kidding."

"Uh huh, yeah suuuuuure."

Partway through the class, Risque piped up with a silly question:

"Gambit, can vampires get HIV?"

As she expected, the class laughed.

"Can vampires get HIV?" Gambit considered. "Possibly, but given that vampires are undead or demons depending on who you talk to, I'm guessing the answer is largely redundant."

"But if they could then they might be able to pass it on if you have sex with them right?"

"Well, the key words in that question are 'if you have sex'," Gambit replied. "See the problem here is that male vampires can't get erections. They have no blood and you need blood to get an erection. So maybe they might get one after a big feed, but otherwise no. Unless of course, their idea of having a fun time in the bedroom involves feeding off their human partner. I don't know. Kinky. And if it was a female you'd need a lot of lube."

"You're putting way too much thought into this," Rogue said.

"No, I'm not," Gambit correctly cheerfully. "An ex-girlfriend of mine put way too much thought into it. Big vampire fan. Always went into a huge rant about it when vampires had sex in books and movies. Anyway, we seem to be shifting off topic here—you have a question?"

"How many girlfriends have you had?" asked James.

"How old are you?"

"Twelve."

"More than twelve."

Rogue snickered in response to the various 'wow's and giggling that followed.

"How much more?" Artie pressed.

"A lot more and that's the only answer you're going to get out of me," Gambit replied with a tolerant smile. "Enough that the fact that the fact that I have neither contracted an STD nor fathered a child is fairly impressive."

"Actually," Rogue piped up. "Only the STD one is impressive. The child one, not so much. You might be impotent."

"What does that mean?" asked Jimmy.

"Sterile," Gambit explained with a unimpressed look on his face directly aimed at Rogue's smug look. "Unable to have kids. Unable to get or sustain an erection, in the case of guys. I'm not impotent. I'm careful."

"How do you know you're not if you've never had kids?" Rogue teased.

"Are you offering to help me find out, chère?" Gambit asked with a leer.

"Uhh no."

"And that, mes amis is what we call 'propositioning'—when you suggest or offer sex. Propositioning is not done in polite company—trust me, if Logan catches any of you trying it on anyone you will be shish-kabob, and so will I probably," Gambit said with a grin. "If Rogue had answered 'yes' then she would have been doing one of three things. Cheating on her boyfriend, teasing me—neither of which is cool—or calling my bluff. Now, where we were? Oh yeah, STDs."

* * *

"You know something Remy?" Rogue considered as she looked at him.

"I know a few things. Which thing in particular are you referring to?" Gambit asked.

"I think you've gotten taller."

"Well, I hope so. I hate being short,' he replied, then leaned into her and added mischievously: "Except when I'm hugging Emma or Storm."

"I can't believe they still let you do that," Rogue said, rolling her eyes and pushing Gambit gently away.

"Only when I can take them by surprise."

"Uh huh."

"I wonder if I could get away with hugging Kitty and Jubilee?" Gambit mused, rubbing his chin.

"I somehow doubt that they would tolerate your antics."

"If you were taller..." Gambit went on as if Rogue hadn't said anything. "And if you had your big boobs back—"

"You are such a perv."

"Speaking of which, you don't appear to have made much significant development in that area yet, chère."

"You've been looking?"

"It's a little hard not to. They do poke out, or they used to. Maybe you should start using a padded bra."

"Oh well, thanks for the advice Remy," Rogue said cynically. "Did you want to come with me next time I go shopping for bras?"

"Aww chère, don't make offers like that to me unless you really mean them. I'll probably say 'yes' and then what would you boyfriend think?"

"He'll probably wonder why you have the socks shoved down your pants."

"Is Bobby bisexual then?"

"Well, it'll be a little hard not to notice when the socks have been shoved down the back of your pants, rather than the front."

Gambit laughed.

* * *

"We're all here? Bon," Gambit said as the door to his classroom closed the following week. "Today's lesson is called: Life is a Sexually Transmitted Disease."

He gestured to where he had written those exact words on the blackboard and his eyes twinkled with mischief as the class giggled.

"Oh and by the way; congratulations on becoming parents. Rogue, if you wouldn't mind handing out the dolls—erm I mean, delivering the newborns to their loving parents."

There were a variety of groans as Rogue went around with the box of dolls and began handing the out. Gambit gave instructions on how they operated.

"You will be taking them around with you for the next week, everywhere you go. The dining hall, the rec room, classes. All your teachers know what's happening so they'll be lenient on you in case you have to take care of your dear baby in the middle of class—you have a question Jimmy?"

"Yeah, umm, by 'every class' does that include the danger room with Logan?"

"Oh yes," Gambit replied, his eyes bright with glee.

* * *

The first noise to asail Logan's ears was the noise of three of _those dolls_ crying at the same time. He growled, seeing every student in this danger room session arms with noisy, plastic dolls.

"Rogue? What's going on here?" Logan demanded.

"Umm, class?" Rogue offered, scratching her head.

"Why do they have dolls?"

"They aren't dolls," Rogue said with mock-seriousness. "They're babies and they require constant supervision."

"You don't take babies into battle."

"No, you organise a baby sitter."

"Rogue—"

"No. Absolutely not. _One_ is quite enough without having to deal with a whole class' worth of the little brats. You know, Logan, Remy did send out notice on this two weeks ago. It's not like you didn't have a chance to prepare."

"I don't read memos."

"Maybe you should start. Look," Rogue said with a slight smile, taking pity on him. "In the past, Scott just split the class in two: one half baby sits, while the other half battles and then they swap. And on the last day he got creative and involved the babies in the sim."

"...He did?"

"Yeah, I'll have to look up the program again, but it was a sim of the mansion, and about ten or so minutes into it an invading force would attack. It was treated as a defensive exercise to keep the children safe."

Logan grunted.

"Fine," he said finally. "Find me that program so I can look at it. For today, we'll split the class. You take the baby sitting half into the viewing room."

"Sir, yes sir."

"Good attitude. Keep it up."

* * *

"You wanted to see me?" Rogue asked as she opened the door to Storm's office.

"Oh, yes, please sit down," Storm replied, gesturing to a chair.

"I hope I'm not interrupting."

"No, no. I know your schedule is just as busy as mine these days, which was part of what I wanted to talk to you about."

"Sure," Rogue replied as she sat down.

"Okay, first of all I was thinking we might want to start including some of the other X-men in your younger PE classes. Maybe by the time they're older they'll actually respect your contemporaries a bit more, and we can get them teaching other classes as well."

"That might be nice. I've been kind of dreading the idea of trying to teach and learn how to control my own powers when they manifest again."

"I'm sure you are, although hopefully by then we'll have taken a lot more of the load off you. I'll certainly try to make sure of that."

"Thanks."

"The other thing I wanted to discuss with you is the sex ed class."

"Okay," Rogue replied, looking at Storm apprehensively.

"I know that Remy's gotten you to act as an intermediary for the girls out of class?"

"Uh huh."

"Are you okay with that?"

"I, well, I was kind of surprised, I guess. I'm not really sure I'm right person," Rogue admitted. "But I know Kitty and Jubes never get asked anything, and well, I never got asked anything before Remy's class either."

"Do you get asked anything very often?" Storm asked curiously.

"I've had exactly three girls in the class ask me things so far."

"Oh?"

"One just wanted clarification of something we'd talked about in class. Another, well, her period had just started that day and she wasn't really sure, y'know, where to find pads and stuff."

"Hmm, I thought all the girls knew where we kept those."

"Well, I'm sure if she didn't ask me one of her friends could have shown her—"

"Probably, but I think we should have a chat with some of the other younger girls and make sure they know," Storm gave Rogue a smile: "Don't worry, I'll get Kitty or Jubilee to do that. What was the other thing you got asked?"

"Umm, well..." Rogue looked embarrassed. "She asked what snowballing was."

"Oh dear goddess," Storm exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock. "Where on earth did she pick that up from?"

"Some movie. She said she was just passing by and overheard part of it," Rogue said with a shrug. "Whether that was really the case or if she and her friends were actually watching it, I don't know."

"What did you tell her?"

"I panicked and told her I didn't know what it was. I said I'd ask Remy and she got all embarrassed and told me not to worry. I felt a little bad about putting her off, I mean I know we want them informed but that seemed a little... too informed, you know? I did tell Remy about it though."

"You brave girl," Storm said. She could just imagine how that conversation would have gone.

"And the next class he told them what it was—"

"He _what?_"

"And explained that any kind of swapping body fluids like that put them at risk of contracting STDs," Rogue said. "Heck, we had just had the STD class a week before and I didn't even think of that when I was asked. This is what the course is about, right? Educating them on protecting themselves?"

Storm pursed her lips, sighed and nodded.

"Yes, that's point of the course," Storm conceded. "That doesn't mean I have to like that kind of thing being discussed. Just how _is_ Remy doing anyway?"

"The guy doesn't even bat an eye, no matter what questions are thrown at him," Rogue said, shaking her head. "For the actual classes he sticks to the course material, it's usually just when they start asking about specific things—like that—that things get a bit... y'know. I guess it's a bit of a fine line between what's enough information and what's too much. A couple of times he's flat out said he's not going to answer something and to ask him again when they're eighteen. Otherwise, I think they're starting to get braver with their questions. Oh and he's really good with the ones where everyone else kind of laughs at whoever's asking the question. He just ignores the laughter and answers them seriously, even if the question was something... well, I'm going to say something really silly, but obviously the question wasn't silly to them because they didn't understand. I know sometimes when the class is over he has a good laugh about some of the things that went on. Really, Storm, I think you did good in asking him to take it on. I could just imagine if Logan was taking the class. No one would be brave enough to ask anything, and if they were, I can just picture the look on Logan's face."

Storm smiled.

"Well, that's a relief," she said. "I didn't think that Remy would go too far, but he has been known to surprise me."

* * *

**AN: **A friend of mine and I were having a discussion about things we think about too much, during which my vampire-loving friend shared with me her spiel about vampire's and the sex lives. I thought it was hilarious and she let me use it :D

If you don't know what snowballing is... do yourself a favour and _don't_ look it up. It's pretty gross. In fact I wish _I_ didn't know what it was.


	11. Bobby Wakes Up

**Chapter 10: Bobby Wakes Up**

The first thing that came to Bobby's mind when he woke was "why am I looking at the ceiling?" The last thing he remembered was...kissing Rogue good night, and now for some reason he was in the med lab. He started to sit up and immediately had to lie back down again as his vision swam before his eyes. He waited a moment, then reached for the remote on the side table and hit the call button. He didn't have to wait very long before Hank appeared.

"Bobby?" Hank inquired hopefully, a delighted smile appearing on his face as he realised his young friend was very much awake.

"Hey," Bobby replied as Hank walked to his side. "So umm, question: why am I in the med lab?"

"Ahh. The Cure wore off and Rogue's powers chose to return when she was touching you," Hank replied. "How are you feeling?"

"Rested," Bobby joked. "How long was I out for? Hank?"

Hank took a deep breath: "Two months."

Bobby was stunned into silence. Two _months?_

"When Rogue's powers returned they came hard and fast," Hank explained quickly. "The contact between you wasn't actually that long but at the accelerated rate she drained you much faster than what is considered the norm."

"Two months," Bobby repeated with a blink of his eyes.

"I'm afraid so."

Bobby tried to comprehend the idea of two months having passed. He could hardly believe it. One minute he was on his way to bed and the next... Bobby lifted his head and caught Hank's eyes.

"Is Rogue okay?" Bobby asked—she must be mad as hell after her powers coming back.

"Well..." Hank began tentatively. "Yes. In a manner of speaking."

"What happened?"

"You remember of course, Logan and Storm's friend, Remy, who was here because of the side effects the Cure had on him?"

"Yeah. In fact I was planning on giving him a hard time about flirting with Marie. She thought it might cheer him up," Bobby said. "Gee, two months... is _he_ okay?"

"When the Cure wore off Remy he was... in a great deal of pain. Unfortunately, the only way we could sedate him was with gas. The return of his powers also heralded his advanced metabolism so injections didn't have an significant effect on him. We ran out of gas and as I was unable to procure more gas until after the weekend, Rogue offered to absorb him."

"Crap, is _she_ okay?"

"Remy was comatose for a week and Rogue... endured the same pain he had been feeling as the result of his powers returning, but for a significantly shorter period of time than Remy would have gone through. Unfortunately, we failed to understand the significance of what what happening to Remy until his effect on Rogue had already worn off."

"Which was?"

"Rogue—and Remy—have both been physically regressed to approximately their thirteenth years. Because of this, Rogue is once more without her powers, but she is working with Emma to ensure when they manifest for the third time that she will acquire control."

Bobby blinked and was silent.

"Marie's thirteen," Bobby repeated.

"Yes," Hank confirmed. "And she's decided to go back to using 'Rogue'."

"Thirteen."

"Yes. I'm sure she'll be thrilled to see you finally awake," Hank went on. "She's been visiting you every day and... Ahh, she'll probably be here in an hour or so. Now, as I said, you have been comatose for two months, so it would be wise for you to take your time getting up."

"Yeah..." Bobby said slowly. "I noticed that myself."

* * *

"Bobby!" Rogue exclaimed. "You're awake!"

"Hey," Bobby replied from the bed.

Bobby was far too shocked by Rogue's appearance to say anything else. Rogue didn't notice though: she was too busy practically running over and wrapping her arms around him in the biggest hug she could manage.

"I missed you," she said. "And I'm soooo sorry about the coma. I had no idea my powers were going to come back and—"

"It's okay, really," Bobby assured her. "I didn't realise they were going to come back either. I'm just... yeah have to come to terms with having lost two months. I don't suppose much has changed. Y'know aside from the obvious..."

"Did Hank tell you what happened?" Rogue asked as Bobby gestured at her body.

"About you two regressing? Yeah. I have to say, I'm a little surprised to see your white streak. Did you dye it back or something?"

"No, no. Hank thinks that Magneto's machine triggered some recessives in my DNA or something, so when I got regressed it worked off my current DNA instead of my original DNA," Rogue said with a shrug. "Go figure."

"Well, you look..." Bobby paused and licked his lips nervously. "Different."

"I look like half the kids I teach. Well, hopefully if therapy with Emma pans out I'll get my powers under control and it'll all be worth it," Rogue said. "She's got me doing therapy, meditation and massage. So, yeah, what with that on top of all the stuff I do with Logan and helping Remy out with the sex ed class, I'm pretty busy these days."

"Sex ed? Helping?"

"Believe it or not, Remy's actually really good at getting the kids to listen to him," Rogue replied cheerfully. "Of course, Logan didn't trust him one bit not to corrupt them all, so he got me to spy on him, but y'know, Logan really had nothing to worry about. But for pretty much everyone else, things are all the same."

"He uhh, he still flirting with you?" Bobby asked, scratching his head.

"Yep. He says it's because I'm the only one he can flirt with without it being creepy, but if you ask me, I think it's just a long standing habit he can't break himself of," Rogue said with a snicker. "Oh, and he and Emma have this whole rivalry thing going on. They're always picking on each other. And Logan keeps calling Remy 'Squeaky' because he's been regressed to pre-voice changing."

"Ooookay."

Rogue laughed and snapped her fingers.

"By the way, his eyes look different," she advised him. "They're red irises on black sclera. Apparently when he got abducted by Stryker they changed them for whatever reason—that's where he met Emma, actually; Remy found a way to escape and didn't take any of the other prisoners with him and Emma's held that against him ever since. Anyway, so now that he's been regressed pre-Stryker his eyes are back to normal. Well, normal for him. Remy's a bit of a perv sometimes, but he's really nice. I think you two will get along."

* * *

Although he required Pete for support, there was applause and cheering when Bobby arrived at the dining hall that evening. He smiled at everyone as he walked carefully to the usual table. He sat down with relief next to Rogue, and Pete sat on his other side. In the chair besides Rogue there was a kid he hadn't seen before, although Bobby wagered from the red-on-black eyes that this was Gambit. It was rather odd, actually, sitting at the table with everyone. The physical difference in age between Rogue and Gambit, and Pete, Warren, Jubilee, and Kitty was rather noticeable.

"Yay you made it," Rogue said delightedly. "Bobby, this is Remy. Remy, Bobby."

"A pleasure to finally meet you," Gambit said, holding out his hand.

"Uhh right," Bobby replied, then grinned at him. "Hey, I have a bone to pick with you. Quit flirting with my girlfriend. She's _my_ girlfriend."

Gambit laughed.

"What if I don't want to?" Gambit asked mischievously.

"Umm well," Bobby considered. "You know, I hadn't thought that far ahead."

"Okay while you're thinking about your response, I'm just going to steal your girlfriend away from you and—"

"Oh are ya now?" Rogue drawled.

"—play poker."

"Poker?"

"Well, normally I'd say 'have my wicked way with you', but I'm thirty-nine, chère and the idea of making love to you in your younger body makes me feel like a kiddy-fiddler or something," Gambit said merrily with a very quick glance at Bobby. "So, poker it'll have to be."

"Hmph, well, at least I _sound_ like an adult, Squeaky."

"Not you too."

"I can help you break your voice if you want. I know where they keep the hammers."

Kitty laughed.

"I'll help," Jubilee joked.

"Sure, go right ahead," Gambit replied. "I'm tired of being a boy soprano."

"On the other hand," Rogue considered. "We could always castrate you so you _stay_ a boy soprano."

"Man as sexy as me was never meant to be a eunuch."

"But you're not a man yet, sugar."

"You're not much of a woman yet either."

"Ignore them," Pete advised Bobby. "They're always like this."

"Ha! You could say they carry on like children," Warren said with a laugh.

Rogue poked her tongue out at Warren and Gambit chuckled.

* * *

There were certain disadvantages to living at a school with Logan's sense of smell. One of those disadvantages was the abundance of teenagers, and with them, hormones. He got used to it, much like someone who lives by the beach gets used to the smell of salty sea air, however there were times when the smell got quite strong. Usually this was Logan's cue to interrupt a couple who were getting carried away or high tail it away from the bedrooms, but on this occasion Logan was in the rec room and he had no idea who or what was responsible. It wasn't like there were a group of boys seeking a peek at one of the adult channels (damn that Forge kid and his meddling).

Logan studied the room with a frown on his face. He slowly turned his head from one side to the other and back again, and finally settled on the last person he expected: Emma Frost. She was sitting in front of the TV with a group of the girls watching some chick flick and Logan's frown deepened. He'd never smelt such a high level of arousal from Emma before and unless she was turned on by some weird stuff, it wasn't the chick flick that was responsible, as none of the other girls were even slightly worked up. Yet there she was with her face flushed and her bosom heaving. He walked over just in time to hear Emma give a slight moan and it was now that the girls noticed their companion's state.

"Emma?" Storm asked curious. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Emma insisted reaching for her water. "Just fine."

Storm didn't look too convinced, neither did Rogue, Kitty or Jubilee, especially as went Emma brought the glass to her lips she barely took a sip before she had to spit out back into the glass again. Kitty pulled a face.

"Frost?" Logan asked.

"I think I've had quite enough of this movie," Emma said.

She started to stand up, then stopped, her entire body shuddering. Logan's eyes narrowed. Then so fast that Rogue barely caught it, and only because she was in the right place to see, Emma's eyes flickered towards where Gambit was watching them. Rogue glanced between Emma and Gambit and Logan caught her look.

"Squeaky, what the hell are you doing?" Logan demanded.

Emma's face went quite red even as Gambit burst out laughing.

"Rivals with benefits," Gambit said, grinning.

Emma finally stood and strode purposely from the room, her head up high.

"Rivals with benefits?" Kitty repeated. "What on earth does that mean?"

"It means," Logan practically growled now that he'd worked it out, "that Squeaky over here was thinking...erotic thoughts about the White Queen."

"I have this theory that Emma dresses the way she does because she gets off on what her admirers think about doing with her," Gambit smirked as he sauntered over. "I figured she would probably enjoy something more...sophisticated after enduring whatever crude fantasies the kiddies around here come up with, and she is one of the few telepaths who can actually read my mind."

"Wait... Were you... You weren't..." Jubilee stammered.

"Oui," Gambit said smugly. "I was getting her off. Do you want to know what I was thinking of when she went for her water?"

"No!" said pretty much everyone.

Gambit laughed and Logan pointed his finger at him.

"Stay away from Rogue, Kitty, Jubilee—" Logan began.

"Excusez-moi?" Gambit objected.

"—and all the students—"

"Logan, be serious," Storm said.

"—I don't even want to see you in the company of another female in this place without a _male_ chaperone."

"Désolé, mon ami," Gambit replied coolly. "I don't go in for that sort of thing."

Snikt.

"Stormy!" Gambit said, practically jumping into her lap and wrapping his arms around her. "The bad man is scaring me."

"Remy, get off," Storm scolded. "Logan, put those things away."

Rogue, Kitty, and Jubilee started giggling. Logan growled and stepped towards Gambit and Storm.

"Logan, let it be," Storm insisted. "It was Emma he was, erm—"

"Pleasuring," Gambit supplied.

"Annoying," Storm said. "Emma can handle it."

"Oh she can't handle me at all."

"Remy, get off my lap."

"But you're supposed to be my guardian," Gambit said, looking into Storm's face and poking out his bottom lip. "Guard me."

"Okay, Remy? With those eyes you can't pull off pathetic looks."

"I can try."

"You've got two seconds to make yourself scarce," Logan growled. "Before I _ensure_ you won't be 'pleasuring' anyone any more."

"Hmm, to call his bluff or not to call his bluff," Gambit considered.

"One," said Logan menacingly.

"What the hey," Gambit said as he got up and made his way to the door. "I say I find out if Emma needs help...finishing things off."

Gambit laughed at himself as he departed and Logan growled, his claws retracting with a 'snakt'.

"Rogue—"Logan began.

"I'm dating Bobby," Rogue interrupted.

"And I'm dating Pete," Kitty nodded.

"And I'm not dating anyone," Jubilee sighed. "But I'm not interested in Remy. He's simultaneously too old and too young for me."

"He probably figures they cancel each other out,' Logan growled.

* * *

Upon his exit from the rec room, Gambit almost collided with Bobby.

"Whoa, désolé mon ami. Didn't see you."

"Oh, that's okay," Bobby replied. "I should have been looking where I was going to begin with."

Gambit chuckled.

"Is ahh, Rogue inside?" Bobby asked, gesturing to the rec room.

"Oui."

"Uhh okay."

Gambit looked at Bobby curiously as he continued down the hall.

"You know," Gambit said. "She's going to notice if you start avoiding her."

"I'm not avoiding her," Bobby said hurriedly. "I was just curious. I'm on my way to meet Pete and Warren in the danger room."

"Ahh, my mistake. On a related note, if my flirting with Rogue is a problem for you, let me know and I'll attempt to restrain myself. It's just that right now she's the only one I can flirt with without it being creepy. Except for Emma, of course, whom I enjoy annoying so I don't actually care if it's creepy or not," Gambit said gleefully.

Bobby laughed.

"Well, on the one hand I know I can trust Rogue," Bobby said. "On the other hand, I think it's pretty poor behaviour to go around flirting with other guys girlfriends when you know they're seeing someone else."

"Ahh, so you don't feel threatened by me, you just have a poor opinion of me."

"Yeah, basically."

"I can live with that."

"Anyway, I should get going."

"Right."

Gambit watched Bobby as he walked away, and shook his head. It wouldn't be long.

* * *

Bobby sighed as Rogue worked her hands across his back. She was doing rather well at this massage business.

"Okay," she said as she rolled off onto the bed next to him. "Hands are sore now."

Bobby chuckled.

"That's perfectly fine, Mar-", Bobby turned his head to look at her, "-rie."

"What?" Rogue asked, having noticed the change of expression on his face.

"Nothing, it's nothing."

"Well, clearly it's something. I go to all the trouble of giving you a nice back massage and all of a sudden you're all down on the dumps on me," Rogue said in amusement.

Bobby sighed and looked down at the bedsheets.

"It's just that...well..." he trailed off uncertainly.

"What?" Rogue prompted.

"It's just going to take some getting used to," Bobby said, tracing his finger over the creases in the bedsheets. "You looking so different. I mean, you still sound and talk the same and when I can't see you it's easy to forget that you've regressed but then I look at you and I remember and it just... it feels creepy."

"Creepy."

"Well, yeah. Because you look like a seventh-grader. You know, those kids we used to pick on for most of our high school experience? Because you look like one of the students—whom we're not supposed to get that way involved with."

For a moment Rogue said nothing, just made some clicking noises with her tongue.

"Is this going to be a problem?" she asked finally.

"Marie, I can't look at my own girlfriend without feeling like a creep. I'd say it's a problem. And don't take this the wrong way—"

"How can I possibly take this the _wrong way_?"

"I don't wish you never absorbed Remy—okay I do kinda wish that—but I get why you did and I respect you for that. And I'm glad that you and Emma and everyone think that you can use it to your advantage in getting your powers under control. I'm just... I just..."

"You're just _what_?" Rogue demanded. "Breaking up with me because of my _appearance_?"

"I never said that!"

"Shallow much?"

"Hey, there's nothing shallow about not wanting to date an underage girl—"

"I'm _not_ underage—"

"Physically you are, Marie. What do you want me to do? Train myself so it doesn't bother me? What happens if we break up for some other reason? Am I going to start looking at real underage girls?"

"I'm not going to look this way forever."

"I know that! I know!" Bobby said, almost burying his face in his pillow. "And I'm not sure which is going to be the bigger mistake: breaking up with you or not breaking up with you."

"Pick one."

Bobby winced at the cold tone in Rogue's voice. He closed his eyes.

"Please don't be mad at me, Marie," he said. "I don't want to stop being friends with you, I just can't date you right now. Maybe in a few years, if we're not seeing anyone else, I'd like to see if we can rekindle things—"

Rogue made a rude noise.

"So I've had the horrible, disfiguring accident and you're only willing to date me after I've had reconstructive and plastic surgery?"

Bobby sat up, his eyes ablaze with fury as he glared at her.

"That's not what I said at all!" he exclaimed.

"That's what it amounts to!"

"You haven't been disfigured. If that was it, sure I'd be shallow, but that's _not_ what happened."

"I'm no longer attractive to you."

"_Physically_ attractive, and quite frankly, given the circumstances, I think that's a good thing."

"It wasn't that long ago we were students and underage ourselves."

"And I still wouldn't have dated a thirteen-year-old when I was seventeen. So excuse me for having standards! I didn't think there was anything unreasonable about them—guess I was wrong."

"I'm not thirteen!"

"You have the physical body of a thirteen-year-old! You even have an ID that says you're thirteen—"

"Fake. Fake ID."

"—because no one would believe you if you told them you were nineteen!"

* * *

When the yelling started, Gambit casually put his deck of cards back together and returned them to his pocket. He pushed away from the wall of the hallway and began slowly walking down towards his room, which just so happened to require him to pass by Bobby's door on the way.

When he was just barely a metre away, Bobby's door was pulled open. Rogue stepped through and slammed it behind her. Her eyes were ablaze with hurt and fury and she had the definite look of someone trying really hard not to cry.

"Rogue?" Gambit inquired.

Rogue turned her head, her eyes catching his. She swallowed hard, her lips pressed tightly together as the silence lengthened. Finally, she cracked.

"Bobby broke up with me," Rogue said.

"Aww, chère," Gambit said sympathetically.

He held out his arms for her and she fell into them, crying on his shoulder.


	12. Breaking

**AN: **Hmm, a couple of people have asked about this, and Hank did mention it in passing, but just so everyone is clear: Rogue and Remy are now aging normally. They are not stuck at 13, nor will they make an unexpected or rapid transformation back to 19 and 39 respectively.

* * *

**Chapter 11: Breaking**

With her elbow planted on the bench, Rogue rested her head in her hand and dipped her spoon into the bowl of chocolate ice cream. She sighed.

"Thanks Remy," she said.

"No problem," Gambit replied with a shrug.

"I just... after two years I thought... Well, I guess I just thought wrong."

"Aww chère, I don't think you thought wrong at all," Gambit said seriously, wishing he could take the forlorn look off her face. "Bobby does still care about you."

"Just not enough to stay with me," Rogue replied bitterly.

Gambit shrugged.

"He was trying to do the right thing, but it was a case of 'damned if you do, damned if you don't'," he said. "This is a fairly unusual situation, chère, and I'm sorry to have put you in it."

"Not your fault, Remy. No one's fault, really. Well, no," Rogue decided, pointing her spoon at Gambit. "I blame Warren Worthington the Second."

Gambit laughed.

"He was the one who couldn't accept his son was a mutant," Rogue said. "He was the one who got the whole Cure thing happening. So I blame him."

"Sounds good to me," Gambit replied.

Rogue smiled, sighed and ate some of her ice cream.

"Where does it end though?" she asked.

"Hmm?"

"Well, y'know, Bobby doesn't want to date me any more. What about y'know, everyone else? Are they all...all ashamed to be seen with me? Have they just been humouring me all this time?"

"If they are, chère, they're not very good friends," Gambit said determinedly. "You're physically younger, oui, but it doesn't change who you are. Okay, so in a couple of years they'll be able to hit the clubs and bars and you won't, but I really don't think they're ashamed to be seen with you. If it makes you feel any better, my love life is screwed for the next five years too."

Rogue giggled.

"It does a little," she said ruefully.

"There you go," he said, and leaned in conspiratorially. "Just between you and me? I've been giving some serious thought to cyber sex."

"Do I really want to hear this?" Rogue asked with a wince.

"Hey, it's either that or hoping that Emma's got some pedophiliac tendencies and seeing if I can finally get into her pants for real."

"Nope, definitely don't want to hear this."

"I miss sex."

"I gathered."

"Sex is like air; it's not important unless you aren't getting any."

Rogue laughed.

"I've never gotten any," she said.

"You don't know what you're missing."

"I think I'd notice if I wasn't getting air though."

"But you've never not gotten air."

"I don't know. Do you get air in the womb?"

"Either way, if you don't have air when you get out of the womb, you notice that."

"True. Anyways, I plan on waiting."

"Waiting?" Gambit repeated, momentarily confused. "Oh, you one of those 'wanting to get married first' types?"

"Yep. Although, that said, with my mutation? I think if I was with the right guy at the right time, I might be opportunistic about it. You know, if I still couldn't control my mutation but someone found a way to turn it off. I don't know. It would depend on the circumstances."

"Oh like if you and your long-time boyfriend were being held captive in a prison with some power-neutralising jailer and that was the only opportunity you may ever have to have sex?"

"...Has anyone ever told you that you have a wild imagination?"

"Occasionally."

"Anyway, if I can get my powers under control such a...colourful scenario would be irrelevant. Sorry, not 'if', 'when'. Emma says I should say 'when'."

"For once I actually agree with her. Shocking I know."

Rogue snickered.

"You've got any plans for Christmas?" Gambit asked.

"Hmm? Oh no, not really. I'll just stay here like I usually do," Rogue replied looking back down at her bowl for the next scoop of ice cream. "I guess I'm a lot like most of the others here: can't really go home."

"Désolé, I forgot you were a runaway. You should come to N'Awlins with me."

"What?" Rogue questioned, glancing up at him. "Seriously?"

"Sure, it'll be fun," Gambit replied cheerfully.

"I don't know..."

"C'mon, it'll be a nice change of scenery for you. Not Mardi Gras, but we could even do some sight seeing, if you want. And I'll have some intelligent company my 'age'."

Rogue laughed.

"Seriously," Gambit went on. "Only nine people back home know I'm really alive, and we're planning on keeping it that way. Unfortunately, this means I can't exactly hit the bar with mes amis."

"Ahh," Rogue said with a smirk. "So this is really about making things more comfortable for you."

"Aww chère, when was the last time you left Xaviers?"

"A few months ago."

"Oui?"

"Yeah, when I got Cured."

"Psh, that's not a holiday," Gambit dismissed with a wave of his hand. "When was your last holiday?"

"Fine," Rogue grumbled. "I take the point."

Gambit chuckled.

"If you really don't what to come, that's fine. Don't let me pressure you," he said. "So, what's Bobby doing?"

"That's mean," Rogue replied, pulling a face at him.

"I never claimed to be a nice guy, chère."

"Things have been tense between Bobby and his family ever since they found out he was a mutant. He didn't go home last year. I don't know about this year."

Gambit grinned at her. Rogue sighed and shook her head.

"You really want me to come with you?" she asked.

Gambit nodded.

"I'll think about it," Rogue said.

"That's all I ask."

* * *

"I just... I don't know," Bobby sighed. "Did I do the right thing?"

His friends all looked at each other, none of them willing to be the first to respond.

"Well," Jubilee said finally. "I think that you probably did. You did look like a strange couple. Not that I'm saying it's all about appearances or anything but you know what I mean?"

"I think that if you love someone, age shouldn't matter," Kitty said.

"Ahh but there are certain proprieties which should be observed, Katya," Pete said solemnly. "If you think you were in breach of those, Bobby, then I believe you did the right thing."

"Whoa wait," Kitty said with a frown. "So if Rogue and my positions were reversed, you'd dump me too?"

"But you're not reversed," Pete pointed out calmly.

"No, seriously I want to know."

"I would try to do the right thing."

"As you can see," Warren cut in then, "we have no more idea than you do if you did the right thing or not Bobby."

"Thanks a bunch," Bobby replied dryly.

"But what's done is done and well, I think it'll work out. Rogue is a lot busier these days, what with all that stuff she's doing with Emma and Remy. Not that much time left for dating, well, not like before anyway."

"That's going to change," Jubilee said. "Storm wants us to take on some of Rogue's classes with the younger students next school year."

"Well, I think you're just making excuses," Kitty frowned. "Making it sound like you're doing everyone a favour by dumping Rogue."

"What do you want me to say, Kitty?" Bobby demanded. "You think I _wanted_ to break up with her? I felt like a complete bastard breaking up with her, but the idea of staying with her made me feel like an absolute creep. I love Rogue. From that side of things I had no reason to break up with her—"

"So you should have stayed!"

"Kitty, every time I looked at her I felt sick. She's the one I've... never mind. The point is that I was starting to feel like—what did Remy call it? A kiddy-fidder. I wanted to do the right thing by both of us."

"I think you should just let this one go, Kitty," Jubilee said softly. "Even if Bobby hadn't, Rogue's not stupid. She would have figured out Bobby was uncomfortable sooner or later. At least this way it's all out of the way, y'know? It's done and over with. Okay sure, it's probably hardest on Rogue as far as the dating scene is concerned, but now she can concentrate on learning to control her powers, and who knows, maybe one day you two will get back together again."

"I'd like to," Bobby said. "Of course, right now I'm not even sure if we're still friends but—"

"Rogue'll cool down," Pete said. "You know what her temper's like."

"Yeah. I hope so. That she'll cool down, not that I hope I know what her temper is like," Bobby said with a grin. "How I wish I didn't know what her temper was like."

Pete chuckled.

"Don't we all," Jubilee said. "It must be the result of absorbing Logan too often."

Kitty laughed.

* * *

"Hi Stormy," Gambit said cheerfully as he let himself into her office.

"I wish you wouldn't call me that," Storm replied with as sigh as she looked up at him from the computer.

Gambit chuckled and sat down.

"You wanted to talk to me about something?" he asked as he made himself comfortable.

"Yes. I believe you had the last sex ed class today?"

"Oui."

"How it go, overall?"

"Pretty good, I'd say," Gambit replied with a nod. "Not that I really have a whole lot to compare the experience too. Didn't have any problems with the kids mucking up or anything."

"Well, that's good."

"Some of them kids come up with some real doozies though. Seriously, I grew up on the street and lost my virginity when I was their their age and they're asking about things I hadn't even heard of then. Geez," Gambit said disgustedly.

"Hmm," Storm considered. "We used to have the sex ed class split: the first half for the younger students and the second half for the older students, but of course, you did the whole thing, didn't you?"

"Oui. Didn't you want me to?"

"No, no that's fine. I was thinking of making it one course anyway," Storm assured him. "The only problem with that is when we get new students who come in after—and given the nature of this school, that happens frequently—we have to do the course again for their benefit."

"Or get them to sit in on the seventh-graders class," Gambit said.

"Or that. In any case, the current eighth-graders haven't done the course at all, and then we need to get all the other grades to do the second half to catch them up."

"Okay."

"I'd like to get it done by the end of the school year," Storm said, looking at Gambit expectantly.

"Ahh," Gambit smirked. "So next semester is going to be very busy for me, no?"

"We should be able to run some classes simultaneously. It's just a matter of scheduling when each class uses the dolls. Then, once the new school year starts, you'll over have to run the class once or twice a year—once for the seven graders and once for the new students."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Also, I was hoping—since you already suggested it," Storm said slyly. "You might start a French class. Language is another class we've had to drop. Foreign language, not bad language, Remy."

"There's a Bad Language class?" Gambit asked merrily. "Really? Oh I'd ace that."

Storm sighed and Gambit grinned at her.

"When did I suggest a French class anyway?" he asked.

"When I first brought up the subject of you teaching here."

"Oh yeah. I forgot. You do realise I'll be teaching Cajun French, not French French."

"There's a difference?"

"Oui, it's called 'slang'," Gambit said with a grin. "Kinda like how there's American English, English English, Australian English. Did you know in Australia what we call 'flip flops' they call 'thongs' and what we call 'thongs' they call 'g-strings'? I don't get it myself, but I suppose you could play a merry tune on a 'g-string'."

"Remy—"

"I'm serious. Oh but my favourite is 'rubber'. See here, it's a condom. Over there, it's an eraser. I had an Australian girlfriend once. You can imagine the fascinating conversation we had."

"I'm not sure I want to."

"Anyway, just thought I would warn you."

"I appreciate that. I still want you to teach."

"Darn. Now I have to change the sign on my door," Gambit joked. "Although, you have to admit, French and Sex ed being taught by the same teacher is pretty funny. We can have a crossover class: French Kissing 101."

"...Don't ever suggest that in Logan's hearing," Storm replied, looking at him in horror.

"Do I look suicidal?"

"Sometimes I wonder. Speaking of which, what's this about Rogue joining you in New Orleans for Christmas this year?"

"Oh, you found out about that?"

"Of course. Rogue had to let me know she was leaving."

"Oh right, yeah."

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What's going on with that?"

"I could use the company—"

"You're visiting family—"

"And she could use with a change of scenery, especially after just breaking up with Bobby. What's wrong with that?" Gambit asked, spreading his hands. "And given the level of secrecy around my alive status, Stormy, I suspect I shall be playing the part of my son more often than me. I'll probably be craving adult conversation."

"I never realised _you_ could have an adult conversation in the first place," Storm replied dryly.

"You get what I'm saying," Gambit replied, pulling a face at her.

"That's all it is?"

"Oui. Why, chère? What were you thinking?"

"You're just not normally the type to bring a girl home."

"Stormy, I'm not luring Rogue home so I can sleep with her. Hell, if I wanted to do that, I'd do it here. Geez, I don't always think about sex you know."

"Could have fooled me."

"Apparently I did. Look, I'll admit that I find Rogue attractive as a person, and I definitely thought she was hot when I saw her—"

"I know. I was there."

"But I stopped being physically attracted to thirteen year old girls when I stopped being a thirteen year old boy. Well, okay, when I stopped being about sixteen. Whatever. The point is that you and Logan have nothing to worry about me pursuing Rogue in that way, at least not for another five years or whatever. And okay, I admit that most of my relationships with women involve sex but you and I have been friends for years and you haven't once agreed to sleep with me. Except that one time when you got really drunk and I seriously thought about taking you up on your offer... I want to say I regret not taking advantage, but I don't really," Gambit said with a teasing sigh.

"That's nice to know."

"The point is that I have no objections to having the same kind of relationship with Rogue as I have with you. And what's more, I've taken you home a few times and no one's assumed we're sleeping together. Except maybe Henri, but that was before he got to know—" Gambit cut himself off at the sound of a lower pitch note coming from his lips. "You. Stormy did you just hear that?"

"Hear what, Remy?" Storm asked teasingly.

"My voice just cracked! Ahh! It did it again!" Gambit said delightedly. "My voice is breaking! Woohoo!"

Storm laughed as Gambit proceeded to do a little happy dance.

"I don't believe I've ever seen a boy get this excited over his voice breaking before," Storm said in amusement.

"This calls for a celebration!" Gambit declared, thumping his fist into his hand. "And I know where Logan hides his beer!"

* * *

"Rogue!"

Rogue looked up with a start as Gambit came racing across the gym and practically pounced on her, tackling her to the ground.

"My voice is breaking! It's breaking I tell you!"

Rogue couldn't help but burst into giggles (after she got her breath back, that was).

"Congratulations," she said.

"Squeaky! Get off Rogue!" Logan demanded, approaching them with the thundering step of a stampeding elephant.

"Logan!" Gambit yelled. "My voice cracked!"

Gambit jumped up, attempted to crash tackle Logan as well, only to fail miserably. It's the admanatium skeleton. It just kills momentum.

"You jump on Rogue like that again, _Squeaky_ and your voice won't be the only thing that starts _cracking_," Logan growled.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me," Gambit replied cheekily.

"I really don't think I want to know," Rogue said, brushing herself off as she stood up. "Oy, you lot, stop gawking and get back to those exercises."

"Oooh, Roguey's a real drill sergeant," Gambit chuckled. "Yes! Did you hear that? It cracked again! That's three cracks already! Best day ever."

"You're counting?" Rogue asked with amusement.

"I hate sounding like a little boy. Oh yes," Gambit said gleefully, rubbing his hands together. "Just a few short months and it's back to the suggestive comments that actually sound provocative. Victory will be mine!"

"Hmm," Logan considered. "Guess I'd better make sure Storm has the school phone system blocking 1900 numbers then."

"You don't have to," Rogue said before Gambit could comment. "I already did."

"Good thinking."

"Now why would I call a 1900 number, when I can harass Emma?" Gambit asked. "I always did suspect my manly tones made her weak at the knees."

"Not to mention your dirty mind. You two deserve each other," Logan said.

"Bite your tongue," Gambit replied. "Better yet, get Stormy to bite your tongue for you. I just want to screw Emma and then gloat about how she finally slept with me and rub that in her face every time she brings up Strykers. I—oh, perhaps I shouldn't have said that in front of your class?"

"There's a few things to be said about the sex ed teacher setting a good example," Rogue said dryly.

"You said good."

"Yep."

"Dammit, there goes my 'good or bad example' query."

"Yep."

"Well, you're no fun."

"Yes I am. I'm plenty of fun. You're just not playing the right game."

"Oh yeah? What game would that be?" Gambit asked, waggling his eyebrows.

"Squeaky, you have two seconds to leave," Logan said. "You're disrupting Rogue and her class. Not to mention irritating me."

"Chaos, panic and disorder," Gambit declared. "My work here is done!"


	13. New Orleans for Christmas

**Chapter 12: New Orleans for Christmas**

"Something wrong, chère?" Gambit asked as they stepped onto the street.

"Yes. No. Just a little nervous about meeting your family, I guess," Rogue replied.

Accepting Gambit's invitation to join him in New Orleans had seemed so harmless while they were still in Westchester. Gambit chuckled and curled his hand around hers.

"Don't worry, they don't bite—much."

"Yeah, that's comforting."

"Ahh and there's Mercy now," Gambit said, then called out while waving his free hand enthusiastically: "Hi Tante Mercy!"

Rogue giggled and Gambit grinned at her. Mercy and Aimee spotted them and they soon closed the distance. Aimee gave Gambit a hug.

"Hi Remy," she said.

"Bonjour, Aimee. This is ma amie, Rogue," Gambit said.

"Ahh, Rogue's a fille," Mercy said and then muttered under her breath: "Of course she is."

Gambit chuckled as he tossed their bags in the car. Rogue tucked a white lock behind her ear, and shot Gambit a curious look. He ignored it and held the door open for her.

"After you, ma chère." he said.

"Thanks."

Rogue and Aimee both got in and as Mercy and Gambit moved around to the other side of the car, Mercy gave Gambit a hard look.

"A little young for you, isn't she?" Mercy asked tersely.

"Aww, Mercy. Now you of all people should know appearances are deceiving," Gambit replied mischievously as he got inside.

Rogue gave Gambit a long look while Mercy started the car.

"You didn't tell them about me, did you," Rogue said to him as they pulled away from the curb.

"I told them my friend Rogue was coming with me. Was that a lie?" Gambit challenged.

"No..." Rogue said slowly, eyeing him off suspiciously. "If you've got some ulterior motive or diabolical evil scheme you haven't filled me in on, I'm going to kick your ass three ways to Tuesday."

Aimee giggled.

"Relax Roguey," Gambit said cheerfully. "The only people in the dark are ma famille and only because I hadn't decided to best way to phrase it yet. Although, personally I think I should be offended that Mercy's first thought was that I had romantic designs on you."

"Can you blame me?" Mercy demanded. "Rogue, I'm assuming you know how old Remy really is?"

"Yep."

"Rogue was nice enough to visit me in the med lab while I was doing my whole aging thing," Gambit said cheerfully. "She even read me bed time stories."

Aimee laughed.

"Bed time stories," Mercy repeated. "Oookay."

"Hmm, he also tried to wrangle good night kisses from me," Rogue added tolerantly. "But I have no more interest in kissing a wrinkly old man than I do a scrawny little boy."

"Hey, my voice is breaking," Gambit declared defensively.

"I know, sugar. You keep telling us."

"Also," Gambit went on. "I like it when my voice cracks in the middle of saying 'my voice is breaking'."

"You are so odd."

"You're just figuring this out now?"

Upon their arrival, Aimee went with Gambit and Rogue to show them where Rogue's room was—just a couple of doors down from Gambit's and next to her own. Rogue was a little taken aback at the size of it—it was at least twice the size of her room back home. It was nothing compared to Gambit's room, however, when he invited her in later, which Rogue likened to being the size of a small apartment.

After they were settled, Gambit and Aimee showed Rogue around and made sure she knew all the places she wasn't supposed to go.

"Ahh... lure of the forbidden," Rogue joked.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm not supposed to go to most these places either," Aimee said, then grinned at Gambit: "Actually, neither are you, _cousin._"

"Hmm," Gambit said as he stroked an imaginary beard. "There are some downsides to this second childhood thing."

"I thought we'd covered all the downsides," Rogue said, checking them off on her fingers. "No drinking—"

"Psh, I was twelve when I started drinking."

"No sex—"

"I was thirteen the first time."

"No driving—"

"Okay that one's a little harder to get away with in the city, but we have dirt bikes and private land so we can do all the driving we want here."

"No casinos."

"... I hate being a kid again. It's not the same playing poker online," Gambit sighed. "Wait... maybe I can get a few games here."

"They won't let us gamble money," Aimee said. "Only chocolate and stuff like that."

"That sounds like fun," Rogue said.

"Maybe I can con Henri into letting me join some of the boys for a real game," Gambit considered. "Hey Roguey, you know what we should do?"

"What should we do?"

"When we hit twenty-one, we should hit Vegas."

Rogue laughed.

"I'm serious," Gambit said, well, seriously. "We can gamble and drink—it'll be fun!"

"We going to do stuff at all the milestone birthdays?" Rogue asked. "Let's see, at sixteen we can go for our licenses together. And then at eighteen we can—"

"Have sex?"

"...That depends. Were you planning on marrying me first?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

Rogue laughed at him.

* * *

It wasn't until dinner that evening that Gambit finally got to catch up with his brother and his father. Evidently, they'd been hard at work because everyone had well and truly gathered by the time the two finally showed up.

"Nice of you to join us," Gambit said cheekily. "Long day at the office?"

"I'm telling you," Henri said. "We're thieves. We shouldn't be sitting behind desks."

"I concur. Oh, this is ma amie, Rogue."

It was only then that Jean-Luc and Henri actually noticed the young woman sitting on the other side of Gambit and across the table from Aimee. Jean-Luc's face remained impassive as he took his seat at the head of the table, but Henri didn't even bother trying to hide his horror.

"They're not dating," Mercy spoke up quickly.

Horror gave way to relief as Henri sat down.

"Well, that's good to know," Henri said.

"Okay, is everyone we talk to going to assume we're dating?" Rogue demanded, frowning at Gambit. "Because aside from the fact that Remy looks like half the kids I _teach_, I only just broke up with my boyfriend. I swear, I'm not in the mood."

"Hmph, apparently so," Gambit said disgustedly. "I would have thought ma famille would have known me better than that, but it turns out they think I'm some kind of pedophile who's incapable of having friends of the opposite sex. I'm feeling rather insulted actually."

"You only bring it on yourself," Henri said.

"I can name exactly four femmes I have non-sexual relationships with that you know about, which prove I'm not," Gambit said smugly. "Stormy, Mercy, Tante Mattie and Aimee."

"Eww," Aimee said, turning up her nose.

Gambit grinned at her.

"Technically, we're not even blood related, Aimee. We could...in a few years."

"Eww," Aimee repeated.

"That's just wrong," Rogue said. "Maybe it's not _technically_ wrong, Remy, but it's sure morally wrong."

"Thank you, Rogue," Henri said.

"Hey, I never said I was interested," Gambit said. "Personally, I think the idea's fairly repulsive too, Aimee. I mean, come on! I remember when you were born and holding you when you were a baby—and handing you back to your mere when you pooped yourself. The point is I am in fact capable of keeping it in my pants. Ha!"

"Rogue," Mercy said. "You said something about teaching?"

"Yeah, I'm Logan's assistant—do you guys know Logan?" Rogue asked.

"I've never met him myself, but I've heard all about him from Remy," Mercy replied. "What exactly do you do as his assistant?"

"I've been learning and teaching mechanics and combat."

"That's what we haven't done, chère," Gambit said. "We should spar sometime."

"Right I'll add it to my list of things to do. Oh and that's the other thing I do," Rogue said mischievously. "I also spy on Remy's sex ed class for Logan. He's worried about what Remy might be teaching them."

Silence.

"_You're_ teaching sex ed?" Henri asked, staring at his younger brother in shock.

"Oui," Gambit replied with a smirk.

"...Who's idea was that?"

"Stormy's."

"Is she doing drugs these days or something?"

"It's actually going rather well. Now I just have to do the course again a million more times to catch up all the other students. Stormy wasn't sure how well it would work because I look the same age as the students, and younger, but it went well with my physical age group so now we're trying it on the other ones."

"I don't think you'll have a problem," Rogue said. "You're getting quite the reputation."

"Well, that was a given," Gambit replied smugly.

"I never said it was a good reputation."

"Bad one is even better."

"I should have seen that one coming."

"Oui, you should have."

"I don't get it," said Aimee with a frown at Rogue. "Aren't you my age?"

"Oh that's what I didn't tell you," Gambit said, snapping his fingers as if he'd only just remembered. "Roguey's my personal anaesthetist."

Rogue burst out laughing.

"Well, I've never heard it described quite like _that_ before," she said.

"But anaesthetic doesn't work on you," Mercy said, sounding puzzled.

"It doesn't," Gambit replied. "Fortunately for me, Rogue has the ability to put people in comas just by touching them. However, at the same time she also borrows their powers and as it was the return of my powers that cause me to regress, they caused Rogue to regress too."

"Oh!" Henri exclaimed. "So—if you don't mind my asking, Rogue—how old are you really?"

"Nineteen."

"Ahh."

Rogue snickered. The look on Henri's face clearly said he's been expecting something higher and didn't think that nineteen was all that much better than thirteen.

"Well, a few things certainly make more sense now," Jean-Luc said.

"I'm sure they do," Gambit replied smugly. "By the way, where's Thug-boy?"

"Sebastien has been assigned as a kitchen hand," Henri informed him. "If anyone can beat the bully out of him it'll be Tante Mattie."

"Well, that's certainly true. And he'll even know how to cook by the time his penance is done."

"You won't believe what we uncovered," Mercy said disgustedly. "It wasn't just Aimee, Alex and Leon; it was pretty much every child living here and then some. And to make it worse, he was banking on the family name to keep everyone in line."

"Esh. Hey Aimee, you could have done that. Why didn't you put him back in his place?"

"Oh, uhh... I just..." Aimee stammered.

"We have really got to do something about this timid streak of yours, fille."

Aimee ducked her head and looked down at her plate. Gambit chuckled.

"By the way Remy," Jean-Luc said. "It's been decided that we'll be having a combined Guild Christmas party."

Gambit dropped his fork.

"We're doing what now?" he asked.

"We're trying to do something about the current tensions between the Guilds. With Julien no longer around to stir things up, we thought we'd take advantage of the holiday to wrangle some kind of peace."

"Without Julien and me, you mean."

"It is true that your apparent death has calmed most of the Assassins down about you killing Julien. However, it's simply not the end of it. I know Julien's friends are still putting the pressure on Bella Donna about retaliation and I believe the council is divided on the matter. Fortunately, Bella Donna herself wants peace, so what we need to do is to get some support from both sides and this party is a start."

"We're hoping it's not going to turn out to be a complete disaster," Henri added. "It's not just Julien's friends, y'know, Remy. Our guys are right pissed about what Julien did to you—even if they don't know you're still alive—and are looking for blood too. I have a feeling we're going to be a hair's breath away from a fight and that's the last thing we need."

"Well, it's nice to know some people miss me," Gambit muttered.

"Yeah, like a pain in the ass," Mercy teased him.

"You cried at my funeral."

"They were tears of relief because the pain was finally gone."

"Screw you."

"Remy?" Mercy queried curiously, surprised that Gambit gave a sharp answer instead of some witty retort.

"I don't appreciate people viewing my death as a good thing."

"Désolé, I was just... Désolé, Remy. You're not really dead. If you were I wouldn't have even considered saying such a thing."

"And I hate that it's taken my death—and Julien's—to get peace between the Guilds."

"We're not there yet," Jean-Luc said. "There's too much anger, animosity and a long history of warfare. It's going to take time."

"And yay me gets stuck with all the work," Henri muttered.

A smug grin rapidly appeared on Gambit's face.

"That's right frère! Roguey, I found something awesome about a second childhood."

"Yeah?"

"I don't have to lead the Guild, do-dah, do-dah!" Gambit sang delightedly. "I don't get stuck behind a desk, oh do-day day. La la la la laaaa! La la la la laaa! La-la la-la la la lah, lah la-la-la!"

"Oui, you sit there and gloat," Henri said disgustedly.

"Nanny nanny nah nah."

"Such a child."

"I know. That's what we should do tomorrow, Roguey. Childish things."

"What?" Rogue asked tolerantly. "You wanna go play at the park, swing on the swings and climb the monkey bars and then stop for ice cream?"

"Yeah, sure. Why not?"

Rogue laughed.

"Ahem," Jean-Luc coughed. "As I was saying. There's a particular reason why I've brought this up, Remy, and it's not just because of fair warning: Marcus Boudreaux."

"What about him?" Gambit asked.

"Try to stay clear of him. It probably won't be easy at the party, but try anyway. According to Bella Donna he hasn't taken his father's death all that well, and as he is unable to get revenge on Remy LeBeau the First, he may well go for the Second."

"If it's not one Boudreaux, it's another."

"It gets worse. Bella Donna only has a couple of years to cement her control of the Guild. She has reason to believe that as soon as Marcus gains his Mastery and turns eighteen, certain allies of Julien and wannabe puppet masters in the Council may support Marcus' bid for the Guild leadership, if he chooses to pursue it. Bella Donna seems to think he will."

"And we'll be right back where we started," Gambit said with a heavy sigh. "I'll do my best to steer clear of Marcus and I'll try to avoid a fight if a confrontation is inevitable."

"That's all I ask," Jean-Luc replied, shaking his head. "I had hoped that the leadership of the Assassins Guild would remain uncontested, but it appears I was hoping for too much. These next couple of years are going to be very important and I've been enforcing it with every single Thief that they are to avoid violence at all costs."

* * *

Rogue tilted her head back and gave Gambit an amused smile as she held onto the chains of the swing in the park.

"You don't have to push me, y'know," she said.

"Aww, but it's fun," he teased.

"I'm perfectly capable of building up my own momentum."

Gambit chuckled and gave Rogue one final push before moving to the other swing.

"When I was a kid—don't say it—I used to try and see if I could get the swing to swing all the way around," Rogue said.

"Yeah?" Gambit asked with a laugh.

"Yep. Never did manage it though."

"Aww."

"That's what I thought."

"Maybe today's the day, right?"

Rogue laughed. Although Gambit was able to match Rogue for height, he eventually got tired of swinging and somersaulted off the swing at its peak.

"Show off!" Rogue shouted.

Gambit chuckled and made his way to the monkey bars. He was too tall to use them the conventional way, but since when was the conventional way ever fun? He pulled himself up over the top into a handstand and began walking from one side to the other on his hands.

"Now I know why they're called _monkey_ bars," Rogue teased him.

Gambit shifted his weight to one hand so he could wave at her with his other. Rogue snickered.

"You're not quite high enough yet," Gambit called.

"You're looking a little red-faced, Remy. Must be novel for you to have all the blood rush to your other head."

"Not nearly as much fun though!"

After they had their fill of the park, they made their way down the street to get ice cream.

"This is fun," Rogue said.

"Oui," Gambit agreed. "I like being a kid."

"Oh, you like it today? That's good. You can't seem to make up your mind."

"What can I say?" he replied with a shrug. "There are good things and bad things about this whole situation."

"True, true. Oh, I've been meaning to ask; this Christmas party coming up—the one for the two Guilds—umm, is there anything I should know?"

"Don't upset the Assassins," Gambit replied seriously.

"That much I gathered," Rogue said dryly.

"Nothing really special. It'll be just like any other Christmas party, well, except for high tensions I suppose. Just stick with me and you'll be fine."

"I was planning to. Not like I'm going to know anyone else there."

"Point taken."

"Remy?" Rogue asked quietly after a moments silence.

"Yeah?"

"What does it take to have yourself declared dead and start a new identity for yourself?"

"Thinking about posing as your own daughter?" Gambit asked teasingly.

"I don't think I could pull that off. But y'know, at first I was thinking well, by the time I'm twenty-four it won't matter if I look eighteen. Lots of people look older or younger than they really are. Except now... There's just all of this stuff I'm having to put off because I can't pass myself off as my real age. Like, Emma suggested I get a degree in remedial massage, right? But there's actual practical classes which I would have to attend outside of school and..." Rogue said and spread her hands with a sigh. "I have my license, but I can't drive outside of the school grounds. Stuff like that."

Gambit nodded slowly.

"Welll chère," he said. "I had mon père organise all the paperwork side, except for declaring me dead—which Hank was kind enough to do—and of course, I needed to organise a Will to leave all my stuff to me. In your case I doubt they'd go over your new identity with a fine tooth comb, but you should probably think about dropping 'Marie' altogether. Or just using it as a middle name."

"Yeah. I kinda like the name Anna. What do you think? Anna Marie Howlett."

"Where'd Howlett come from?"

"Logan real name is James Howlett. We found it in Stryker's files."

"Huh. Why you want his lastname, chère?" Gambit asked curiously, giving her a wink as he look at her face. "Got a little crush maybe?"

"No!" Rogue objected, then backed down: "Well okay, once, for a little while I did. Nowadays though, I think of him more as a father or a brother or something. Family, y'know? I thought—if he didn't mind—I might use his name. Then maybe he could play, umm, guardian for me like Storm does for you when you need it."

Gambit nodded.

"I'm sure he'd be delighted," he said.

* * *

Rogue looked around at the well decorated hall. Bright coloured tinsel was strung everywhere. There was a large Christmas tree in the corner, holly and bells were on the walls and some smart alec had decided to string some mistletoe in the middle of the room. The buffet table was adorned with a Christmas-themed table cloth and there was sparkling green and red confetti sprinkled on top.

In fact the only thing taking away from the obviously Christmassy mood was the people. The Thieves had all congregated on one side of the hall, the Assassins at the other, and the only time they intermingled was where food was involved. This was with the exception of the head table where the leaders from each Guild sat and pretended like everything was just fine.

Partway through the evening, Jean-Luc and Bella Donna took to the floor for a dance and Gambit laughed in spite of himself.

"There you go, chère," he said to Rogue, who was sitting next to him by the wall. "The leaders stand up and make an example of themselves for their Guilds. Forget the fact that they look completely ridiculous as a couple."

Rogue laughed.

"Whoa, that's a surprise," Gambit went on. "Bella Donna must be desperate if she's willing to let Sebastien dance with Mignonette."

Rogue watched as the indicated couple took to the floor.

"Who's Mignonette?" she asked. "I mean... I'm guessing she's the girl Sebastien's with but—"

"Désolé, Mignonette is Bella Donna's daughter."

"Ahh."

"And Marcus over there is Julien's son."

"He's the one we have to stay away from."

"Right," Gambit paused for a moment. "Roguey?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you... Okay it's probably hard to say from over here, but do you think Mignonette looks like me?"

Rogue turned her head, not to the girl, but to Gambit's frowning face. A sly smile appeared on her lips.

"I thought you said you've never gotten anyone pregnant, Remy," she teased him.

"To my knowledge, I haven't. I'm sure I was careful—I'm always careful, it's force of habit right now. So 99% of me is convinced she isn't and yet there's this 1% that exists purely because the timing's right. Of course, it's also right for any number of other guys as well, so I don't know. And Belle's not telling. Of course she might not know herself..." Gambit finished with a sigh.

"How old is she?"

"Fifteen."

"And it's been driving you crazy not knowing all these years?"

"Oui."

"I'm torn between laughing at you and feeling sorry for you."

"Thanks a lot."

"You're welcome," Rogue replied merrily. "You know, if she is, it would prove you're not impotent."

"Merde! I'm not impotent!"

Rogue laughed and Gambit shot her a dirty look.

"Okay, okay," Rogue said. "From this distance, it's really hard to say. I mean, you both have brown hair, but then so do half the people in this room, including me. I'd have to get closer for a decent comparison."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"You never thought to ask Bella Donna for a DNA test or something?"

"Thought about it plenty of times. Hell, I even considered sneaking into the Boudreaux Mansion and stealing a DNA sample."

"But you never did?"

"More at stake than just sating my curiosity. Care to dance?"

"Sure, why not?"

Gambit took Rogue's hand and lead her out onto the floor. Slowly but surely more couples joined them. Henri eventually cut in on Jean-Luc and took Bella Donna for a dance, and Jean-Luc opted to have a dance with Mercy before returning to his seat. Not long thereafter, Gambit decided to take Aimee out for a spin and Rogue made her way to the table for punch. Once she acquired her drink, Rogue turned to move away from the table and just about ran into a handsome young man of about sixteen years... Marcus. Gambit had spotted him on multiple occasions during the evening trying to approach and every time he'd managed to avoid him, with just enough time to make it look natural.

"Oh sorry," Rogue said. "I didn't realise you were there."

"That's perfectly fine, ma chérie," he replied suavely, taking her free hand and kissing it. "I was hoping you'd run into me."

"Hmm, could get messy," Rogue replied, lifting her drink.

"Maybe I like it messy."

"Maybe you do."

As she spoke, Marcus let go of her hand and put his hands on her waist instead.

"Where's your boyfriend?" he asked.

Rogue didn't answer at first, and finished her drink quickly. It wasn't until after she put the cup back down that she replied:

"Sorry, I haven't had one of those for a few weeks now. My ex is back in New York."

"Huh, funny. I meant Remy."

"He's just a friend who happens to be a boy."

Marcus pulled her closer.

"Well then," he said. "Then he won't mind if I do this."

Marcus lifted one hand to cup her face and brought his lips down on hers. Rogue knew instantly what Marcus was up to: Having been foiled in his attempts to confront Gambit, he was now trying to get Gambit to confront him. Rogue resented being a pawn but at the same time had become well aware of the tensions between the Guilds and did not want to the the spark of another fight.

Rogue wrapped her arms about Marcus and kissed him back. Marcus seemed surprise at her reaction but recovered quickly enough—like she'd expect anything less.

"Want to take this somewhere a little more private?" she asked when they broke off kissing for a moment.

Marcus' face lit up.

"Sure," he replied eagerly.

"Great. By the way, do you know what a hermaphrodite is?"

Meanwhile, on the dance floor, Aimee happened to look over at the food table and spotted Rogue and Marcus lip locked. Observant man that he is, Gambit immediately noticed Aimee's change of expression and turned around so that he could see what she was looking at.

"Merde," Gambit said and immediately pulled away from Aimee to intervene.

"Remy, you can't—" Aimee said worriedly.

"She can't either."

However, when the two were only metres away from them, Rogue and Marcus stopped kissing, had a brief conversation and a complete freaked out expression appeared on Marcus' face. He backed off quick-smart and the moment his back was turned a smug smile grew on Rogue's face. She refilled her cup with punch and hoped she'd actually get to enjoy her drink this time.

"Rogue? Are you okay?" Gambit asked hurriedly as he got to her side. "What happened?"

"Well, I thought Marcus and I were going to go out the back and make out some more," Rogue replied nonchalantly. "But he seemed to think he'd been neglecting his Aunt and cousin tonight and changed his mind."

"Chère?"

"I wonder if it was something I said? Let's see, first he seemed to think you were my boyfriend—you know, that's really getting old—and then he decided to kiss me after I set him straight on the friend-who-happens-to-be-a-boy thing. Then I kissed him back, and so we decided to go elsewhere... and oh yes, that's right. I told him I was a hermaphrodite."

"What's that?" asked Aimee while Gambit stared at Rogue.

"A hermaphrodite has both male and female parts," Rogue explained, then continued thoughtfully: "You know, come to think of it, it was right after I offered to show him my penis that he took off."

Gambit burst out laughing. Rogue sipped her punch, cool as a cucumber, with an amused smile on her face.

"You... you have a..." Aimee asked, staring wide-eyed.

"Nah, I was lying," Rogue said gleefully. "Worked like a charm though. In a manner of speaking, of course. Sometimes you just have to feed people enough rope to hang themselves with."

"Mon dieu! Rogue, I love you," Gambit said, resting his arm on her shoulder and laughing hard. "You're awesome."

"Yes, I know."

* * *

**AN: **My apologies to hermaphrodites.


	14. The New Year

**Chapter 13: The New Year**

"Mercy had been keeping an eye on Marcus the whole time," Gambit said in the kitchen at Xavier's. "She was on the move when she saw Marcus approach Rogue, although Aimee and I got there first. I guess none of us really considered that Marcus might try to use Rogue to get to me."

"Knowing you it would have worked too," Storm said. "Dating or not."

"If I'd realised we were going to have a combined Guild Christmas party, I wouldn't have invited Rogue to come along with me."

"Aww, but it turned out pretty good," Rogue said smugly. "Marcus avoided both of us for the rest of the evening like we were carrying the plague."

"Actually he was avoiding you," Gambit said with a grin. "I just stayed with you."

"It was pretty funny. You should have seen the look of sheer horror on his face."

Rogue and Gambit were not long back from New Orleans after the New Year and they were sitting at a table with Storm, Hank and Logan.

"I knew Rogue going with you was a bad idea," Logan muttered.

"Come now Logan, I think this story proves Rogue can manage herself," Storm said with a smile.

"I learned from the best," Rogue said.

"Do people often tell unwanted suitors they're hermaphrodites?" Logan asked.

"You taught me that when someone is trying to force you in a particular direction, sometimes the best way to throw them off balance is to go with them." Rogue replied seriously. "Albeit this wasn't physical combat, but you could say it was another form of combat."

"I could at that," he conceded with a grin.

"He wasn't expecting me to kiss back, let alone suggest we continue in private," Rogue said smugly. "And then just as he was getting all excited... whammo! The bomb drops. Good thing for me he wasn't the curious type, right?"

"Oui, you would have been in trouble if he had called your bluff," Gambit agreed. "Just how would you have gotten out of that one, chère?"

Rogue shrugged.

"Decked him one once we'd got into a more private place? Hoped that someone intervened before we got that far? Maybe I should have told him I had an STD... eh too late now. It worked anyway."

"Oui. Marcus practically stuck to Bella Donna and Mignonette like glue after that."

"I taunted him a couple of times by winking seductively at him."

"It was hilarious to watch him cringe," Gambit said gleefully. "And the party went pretty well afterwards. On the way home Mercy told everyone what happened. We all had a great laugh, although Rogue did have to clear up with a couple of others that she wasn't really a hermaphrodite."

"Ahh, it doesn't really worry me if people still think I am," Rogue said with a shrug. "Unless Remy decides to invite me back next year, I'm hardly going to see them again."

"What if I do and everyone's convinced that you are?" Gambit asked.

"I'm not going to pull down my pants to prove otherwise."

"I should hope not," Logan said.

* * *

It happened a couple of weeks later after school started again and everyone had returned to their regular routines that Rogue found herself on night duty. She was curled up on the couch, a book in her hand and a mug of hot chocolate on the table when she heard the front door open. Reluctantly, she put her bookmark in her place and made her way to the door.

"Bobby?"

"Ahh!" He exclaimed. "Oh... hey Rogue, what are you doing up?"

"Night duty. I didn't realise you'd gone out."

"I wasn't on a date!"

"Oookay..." Rogue said, giving him an odd look. "I never asked if you were."

"Oh, uhh right, I umm—" he stammered.

"Were you on a date?" Rogue asked, regarding him curiously.

"Uhh..."

Bobby looked very much like a deer caught in headlights and Rogue looked at him expectantly.

"Well, yeah..." he finally admitted.

"How'd it go?"

"Oh good," Bobby replied then added quickly: "Well not y'know, good. It was fine. Adequate. Y'know."

"Right. Think you'll see her again?"

"Yeah. Well, I mean I kind of have no choice in the matter. Samantha goes to Uni with me."

"Ahh. I mean on a second date."

"Umm, well, maybe yeah."

"Well, I'm glad things went well. Good night Bobby."

"Thanks. Good night, Rogue."

The two looked at each other in silence for a moment, then Rogue returned to the couch and her book, while Bobby headed for his room. However, Rogue found herself unable to concentrate and kept rereading the same paragraph over and over. With a sigh she put it back down again. Who was she kidding? It had been almost two whole months since their break up and he'd already found someone else. Her dating pool was pretty much non-existent, unless she decided to date someone online and where was the fun in that? It wasn't that she was the 'I must have a boyfriend' type, it was more that she enjoyed romance. Rogue smiled wryly as she looked at the cover of her romance/adventure novel. Yep, she was unhappy about the lack of romantic opportunities in her life for the next five years, no doubt the same way Gambit was feeling about the lack of sex. It was all very well and good to say she could use this time to study and prepare for the third manifestation of her powers, but work was no substitute for love.

Rogue glanced up at the clock. Noting it was time for her next set of rounds, Rogue finished off her hot chocolate before it could get cold and began on her tour of the upper floors of the mansion. Her route took her through the teachers wing—more as a shortcut than any reason to be concerned—and as she approached Gambit's door she noted the light shining through underneath. She paused for a moment, then knocked. There was no immediate answer and just when Rogue was deciding not to worry about it and continue on her way, the door opened. Gambit leaned on the partially opened door, bedecked in only a pair of pajama pants.

"Roguey?" He asked curiously.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you," she said. "I just saw that the light was on."

"S'fine. What can I do for you?"

"Well, I..." Rogue paused and took a deep breath before she continued: "I've decided to go ahead with the new identity thing."

"Okay," he replied solemnly. "Have you spoken to Logan yet?"

"No. I will tomorrow."

"Okay then. What brought this on?"

For a moment Rogue was silent and she looked away.

"Bobby just came back from a date. Last straw, I guess," she shrugged. "Anyway, thanks. I'll let you know what Logan says."

She started to walk away when Gambit reached out and took her hand.

"So, I'm thinking I might actually step foot in the church on Sunday..." he said.

Rogue giggled.

"That would be novel," she replied. "Plus, Kurt's been missing me."

"I look forward to meeting him."

"It's your own fault you haven't met him already, you big wuss."

Gambit poked his tongue out at her. Rogue chuckled.

"I have to continue on my rounds. Good night, sugar."

"'Night chère."

He gave her hand a kiss before letting it go and closing the door. Rogue continued her way down the hall and as she approached Logan's room wondered if it was too late for her to talk to him about it now. However, as she approached his door, she heard a thump and some growling noises and decided against it. Last time she'd interrupted one of Logan's nightmares, she ended up with his claws through her chest and this time she couldn't borrow his powers to heal herself. Morning would come soon enough.

* * *

Rogue looked at Logan expectantly across the table the following morning.

"Anna Marie Howlett, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah."

He nodded slowly.

"Okay."

"Okay, really?" Rogue asked hopefully.

"Sure. I'd be honoured, kid. Just one question," Logan replied seriously.

"Yeah?"

"Who was your mother?"

Rogue giggled.

"I think they're just going to make up a name for my mother," she replied. "Thanks so much for this."

"No problem."

"I'll tell Remy when I see him. By the way, did you sleep okay last night?"

Logan paused in the middle of his mouthful of breakfast, nodded, and went back to eating.

"Oh well, that's good," Rogue said cheerfully. "I was going on my rounds and I heard some noises coming from your room. Figured it was another nightmare."

"Ahh, well... thanks for your concern, but I was fine."

It was Rogue's turn to pause. All of a sudden Logan was avoiding her gaze and... Rogue clamped her hand over her mouth and smothered a giggle.

"Oh!" she exclaimed gleefully. "It wasn't a nightmare, was it? You were... You had a visitor!"

Logan coughed and concentrated on his toast.

"Oooooh!" Rogue said, grinning delightedly. "C'mon tell. Who is it? How long has it been going on?"

"Would you ask your real father these questions?" Logan asked uncomfortably.

"Nah, I already know the answers: Mama and they were high school sweethearts," she replied and batted her eyelids at him. "C'mon Logan, I have no love life any more. I need to live vicariously through everyone elses."

"Morning," Storm said cheerfully as she walked into the dining room. "Rogue. Logan."

"Morning 'Ro," Logan replied.

Rogue's eyes lit up as she looked between Storm and Logan.

"Ohmigod! It's Storm isn't it?" Rogue exclaimed.

"What's me?" asked Storm, looking perplexed at the two.

"Rogue's decided to change her identity to one that matches her physical age," Logan said.

"Okay we can change the subject," Rogue said gleefully. "I won't tell anyone."

"Won't tell anyone what?" asked Storm.

"Just let me ask one thing: How long have you guys been seeing each other for?"

Storm looked from Rogue to Logan, who shook his head with a low growl.

"Since Christmas," Storm admitted.

"Aww, that's so sweet," Rogue said, sighing happily. "Okay, I'll just leave you two alone now. I have to track down Remy anyway to talk to him about my identity change. See yas later."

* * *

Rogue stood with Gambit at the doors to the church, their elbows linked together. Rogue turned her head and grinned at Gambit.

"So this is the closest you've ever gotten," she said, her eyes alight with mischief. "You actually gonna step inside now, wuss-boy?"

Gambit closed his eyes briefly, then turned his head to look at her.

"Don't call me that," he said, his eyes narrowed slightly at her.

"Don't give me a reason to."

Gambit put his hand on the door and pushed it open. He could see everyone inside mingling and taking to their seats. He lifted his foot and stepped over the threshold. His second foot followed soon thereafter. Rogue applauded.

"Yay! You did it," she cheered. "And look! You haven't been smited either."

"Roguey?" Gambit said tolerantly.

"Yes Remy?"

"You are so lucky we're in church right now, or I'd..."

"You'd what?"

Gambit paused, then changed his mind about what he was going to say and instead muttered: "Give you a right good spanking." Rogue laughed.

"C'mon," she said. "Let's get us a seat. Up the back perhaps? Where you can make a quick getaway in the event of lightning strikes?"

"I don't think it's very Christian of you to taunt me in Church, chère," Gambit replied reprovingly.

"But you're just so tauntable, Squeaky."

"Just a few months and I won't be 'squeaky' any more," Gambit said as they sat down on a couple of chairs. "Which brings up the question: when are you going to stop being a skinny, flat stick insect?"

"I'm a late bloomer, so sue me."

"Late bloomer in powers, late bloomer in boobs—"

"I don't see you blowing any thing up."

"You've never seen me blow anything up."

"Right, so I'm starting to wonder if you're capable of blowing anything up at all."

"You can talk to me about blowing things up when you can hold a beer can between your boobs."

"Hey!" Rogue objected and whacked him across the shoulder.

"Chère, violence in Church? For shame."

"I'll 'for shame' you, you perverted—"

"And now name calling," Gambit interrupted with a sigh. "You know chère, I think if anyone has to worry about God smiting them, it's you."

Whatever retort Rogue would have come up with was interrupted by the lead singer of the band calling for everyone's attention. Gambit was rather impressed by the sight of a full band. They played a few songs—of which he knew none of the words, but he did enjoy listening to Rogue sing along beside him. The announcements were made and then Communion, and Tithes and Offerings. As the stewards went around with the Tithe bags, Logan moved to where he could keep an eye on the Cajun thief. Gambit spotted his dark look and smirked before making a point of sitting on his hands. Logan didn't stop his menacing glare until after the steward had passed.

Then the message started and Gambit found himself remembering why he stopped going to church in the first place. One of the reasons why anyway. His attention drifted off and he started shuffling his playing cards. One of his legs insisted on bouncing up and down. Rogue, well used to Gambit's sheer inability to sit still, only smirked and tuned it out. After what seemed like forever from Gambit's point of view, the pastor finally finished and the band got up to sing a final song.

"C'mon restless boy," Rogue said as the last song finished. "I'll introduce you to Kurt."

"Okay then," Gambit replied and allowed himself to be hauled out of the chair.

With her hand in his, Rogue drew Gambit down the aisle to the front where Kurt was busy chatting to the pastor. Gambit had to admit he could see Rogue's point about this Church being definitely mutant-friendly, given Kurt's resemblance to a blue demon, complete with prehensile tail. Although he did lack horns and hooves, so, perhaps not that much like a demon. Kurt spotted Rogue and Gambit, and finished his conversation quickly.

"Fraulein Rogue," Kurt said, giving her an enthusiastic hug. "It is good to see you."

"Good to see you too," Rogue replied. "It's been awhile huh? This is wuss-boy, erm I mean Remy. See? We didn't stay in the bus or at the doorway this time."

Gambit coughed uncomfortably and held out his hand.

"A pleasure to meet you," he said to Kurt. "I've heard a lot about you."

"And I you," Kurt replied, shaking his hand. "I was beginning to wonder if I would have to teleport you in here."

"Oh you're a teleporter? Nice. I blow stuff up."

"Apparently," Rogue teased. "I have yet to see him do it."

"Beer can, Rogue. Beer can."

* * *

A couple of weeks later, Ray and Amara brought in the mail from the box out the front and upended the bag on the table. Before there were pigeon holes for everyone living at Xavier's and the two began the tedious task of sorting the mail.

"Bonjour mes amis," Gambit said. "Having fun?"

"Oh, so much," Amara muttered. "Wanna help?"

Gambit didn't reply at first, then grinned and picked up a brown package with his name on it and post-marked "New Orleans".

"Sure," he said. "I'll take this one off your hands."

"Thanks a lot," Amara replied sarcastically.

"You're welcome," Gambit answered with a sincere grin.

* * *

Barely half an hour later, Gambit located Rogue in the sun room where she was busy meditating. Normally she would have gone outside, but it was far too cold for such things.

"Chère?"

"Oh, hi Remy," Rogue replied, opening her eyes. "What can I do for you?"

"Actually," Gambit said as he sat down next to her. "I came to offer my condolences on the passing of Marie Skye D'Ancanto."

Rogue caught her breath as Gambit held out her death certificate. Her hands trembled a little as she reached out of the paper.

"And to introduce myself to Anna Marie Howlett," Gambit added softly, holding out a birth certificate. "Bonjour Anna. I'm Remy."

Rogue looked up from the papers and gave him a slight smile.

"So...it's all done then?"

"Oui," Gambit said, patting a box beside him. "All the rest of the papers you need are right here."

For a moment Rogue didn't say anything.

"Thanks, Remy," she said softly.

"No problem, chère," he replied.

Rogue looked between the birth and death certificates, trying to wrap her head around it. It was one thing to make the decision, but quite another to have the tangible results of that decision in her hands.

"They changed my birthday," she observed.

"Yeah, mine got changed too. Didn't want us to be too similar to our previous selves," Gambit said. "What date?"

"21st of April."

"I picked the 6th of the 9th."

Rogue blinked then looked up at him.

"The 6th of the 9th," she repeated.

"Oui," Gambit replied with a grin.

"You are such a pervert."

"What? It happens to be exactly a week after my real birthday."

"Uh huh, and that's the whole reason why you chose it."

"Never said that."

"I repeat: You are such a pervert," Rogue said disgustedly. "Wait so, the 30th of August?"

"Oui."

"That would have been close to when you got, umm, Cured."

"It wasn't just close, chère. It was the same day," Gambit said quietly. "There I was, enjoying my birthday with a few drinks with mes amis and the next thing I know I've been shot in the neck with a Cure bullet. There was even a little note attached. It said: Happy Birthday Sucker."

"Wow."

"I suspected it was Julien—looked like his handwriting—but it wasn't confirmed until he bragged about it to me two days later," Gambit paused for a moment, then the solemn expression changed to a smile. "Actually, it hasn't turned out that badly. Sure, there are a few setbacks right now, but they'll pass in a few years and in the meantime I have my eyes back, not to mention the chance to re-live twenty-six years of my life. In fact, I'm kinda sorry I killed him now. I would have loved to rub this in his face."

Rogue laughed. She put the certificates down on top of the box and gave Gambit a big hug.

"Not such a bad birthday present after all, huh?" she said.

"Sure beats getting socks."

"Or underwear."

"Underwear's not such a bad birthday present, depending on who it's coming from. I think I'd be a little worried if Julien had ever gotten me any," Gambit replied cheerfully. "Actually, come to think of it, I kinda wish I'd gotten him some just to see the look on his face. Darn, now I _really_ wish I hadn't killed him. Why is it you always think of the best lines after it's too late?"

Rogue laughed.

* * *

**AN: **I think that Remy's birthdate of choice is funnier if you come from a country that writes numerical dates as DD/MM/YYYY as opposed to those who - for some weird reason - like to write it MM/DD/YYYY. You know, because then it would be 6/9 not 9/6 ;)


	15. Exploding with Energy

**AN: **

People who ask questions in reviews, but do so anonymously so I can't reply save for in an AN, are in for disappointment.

There was more to Rogue and Remy's last conversation in the previous chapter than a 69 joke.

They say in a group of 50 people, 2 will have the same birthday.

* * *

**Chapter 14: Exploding with Energy**

It was five in the morning when Gambit woke up. Most people when they see their digital alarm clock glowing the numbers "5:00" will roll over and go back to sleep again, unless they had some particular reason they had to be up at that time. Gambit has only ever been "most people" once in his life and he didn't like it very much so he stopped it as soon as possible. In fact, if anything Gambit was disappointed he was still sleeping six hours a night and was looking forward to returning to his adult years where four hours was all he needed. Because there is all so much you can do in that extra two hours.

Seriously. There is. This is Gambit we're talking about here.

Gambit got up and dressed in his workout gear. He then trotted down to the gym and did a few warm ups before he began practising his acrobatics on the available equipment. With ease he swung, flipped and spun from bar to bar, mat to mat, rope to rope. He was in truly fine form this morning and he knew it.

He hung upside down from one of the bars, his legs the only things keeping him in place. Come to think of it, there was something different this morning. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but...

Ooooh!

Gambit swung off the bar and landed cleanly on his feet. He looked around desperately for a moment and then made a beeline for the chalk bin. He pulled out a handful of chalk and as he looked at it, drew on the bio-kinetic energy his body generated. A huge grin filled his face as he succeeded in transferring some of that energy into the chalk dust, the magenta glow confirming what he knew.

"Whoohoo!" Gambit yelled.

He flung the chalk into the air, where the charge dust exploded like fine confetti. As if he hadn't gotten enough of a workout already, Gambit began flipping backwards on the mat, all the way to the wall, which he bounced off as soon as he touched it.

He needed to blow more stuff up.

He had to get his playing cards.

He _needed_ to blow more stuff up.

He had to tell someone and share his excitement.

And when he was done with all that he _needed to blow more stuff up_!

Gambit bounded for the door and practically ran all the way back to his room where he picked up half a dozen decks of cards, then realised he should probably change into something with pockets.

"Bah!" Gambit exclaimed.

He flung the decks up into the air and made for the ensuite for the fastest shower in history, changed and filled the pockets of his trench coat with cards. Just for good measure—and because he wanted to—Gambit charged up a card lightly and cheered when it blew up, even if it was just a little too close to the light fitting. It was at this point that Gambit got a look at the clock: 6am. He needed to tell someone. Something this exciting—like being able to blow things up for the first time in five whole months—was never meant to be put off. But who could he tell? Storm would probably fry him if he woke her up and Logan would probably stab him, so that left Rogue.

Gambit bounded out of his room and started towards Rogue's when he got a better idea. He turned on his heel and headed for Emma's room. He could spread his excitement and annoy Emma at the same time! It was win-win. He let himself in, regardless off the fact that her door had been locked and opted to open up the curtains. The light came in and fell on Emma's face. She mumbled and rolled over. A couple of white spaghetti straps were over her shoulders, and the covers blocked the view of the rest of her night clothes.

"Emma!" Gambit exclaimed and jumped up on the bed next to her. "Guess what Emma!"

"Gambit?" Emma muttered, blinking up at him. "What the hell? Get out of here."

"I can blow things up again, Emma! Isn't that exciting?" he said, bouncing up and down on the bed on his knees.

"Thrilling. Go away."

She pulled the covers up over her head. Gambit pulled out a couple of cards, charged them and then flipped them up in the air where they exploded. Emma gave a startled yelp.

"See? Aww you missed it. Now I have to blow more up," Gambit said cheerfully.

Emma didn't reply and Gambit grinned to himself. He lifted up the covers and went in underneath.

"Why Emma!" he said as he snuggled up to her. "I thought for sure you were a sleep-in-the-nude kinda girl, and here I find you in a nightgown. You know, chère, that nightgown probably covers more of you than your every day clothes."

"Go away. I'm trying to sleep."

"Aww, but I can blow stuff up again, Emma. This is cause for celebration."

With his chest to her back, Gambit pressed himself close to her and whispered into her ear: "Maybe I can explode in you, no?" His suggestion was rewarded with a blind whack from her arm.

"I swear Gambit, you are not immune to sexual harassment charges," she practically growled at him.

"That's a fine line coming from you, chère," Gambit retorted. "I can see how well that would go in court: 'But your Honour she was always flirting with me and dressing provocatively—I thought she wanted me to!' and they would all see your sexy pictures and everyone would agree with me and I would get off scott free."

"Fuck you."

"I wish you would."

Emma took on her diamond form then and Gambit chuckled.

"Oooh diamond skin time, hien?" he inquired gleefully. "Kinky. Better break out the K-Y jelly, no? Don't want to chaff my—"

"Gambit!" Emma shouted as she pulled the covers off, sat up and pointed to the door. "Out. Now."

Gambit responded by charging up a couple of cards and blowing them up.

"See? I can blow stuff up now."

"So you said," Emma deadpannned.

"Are you excited for me?" Gambit asked with a mock-hopeful tone in his voice.

"Ecstatic."

"You don't sound ecstatic."

Emma pumped a fist in the air sarcastically.

"Go Remy, woohoo," she said dryly.

"Much better. Enjoy the rest of your sleep," Gambit replied cheerfully.

He laughed as he left her room.

* * *

When Rogue walked into the kitchen not much later that morning, she found Gambit already in there, busy cooking breakfast.

"Hmm, that smells nice," she said.

Gambit turned and grinned at her.

"Roguey!"

Much to her surprise, Gambit practically pounced on her, wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug—or as tight as it could get with a spatula in one hand.

"Umm, good morning?" Rogue said.

"Guess what chère!"

"Umm, you're mad and I'm not?"

"No—"

"I'm mad and you're not?"

"No—"

"We're both mad and Logan's not?"

"That'll be the day."

Rogue chuckled.

"I can blow up stuff again!" Gambit declared proudly.

"Ahh. Congratulations," Rogue smiled.

"Watch this."

He picked up a nearby card, showed off the glinting magenta charge and then tossed it in the air behind him where it exploded.

"Nice," Rogue said.

"See? Am I not awesome?"

"Actually," Rogue replied quickly. "I'd afraid I missed the blowing up part. Your fat head was in the way. Must be that ego of yours, pumping it up."

"Okay!" Gambit replied happily. "I'll show you again!"

Gambit grabbed a few more cards, moved beside her, charged them up in front of her eyes and flicked them into the air. He cheered as they exploded and Rogue chuckled.

"Very good. I'm happy for you," she said.

"I'm happy for me too. Omelette?"

"Sure."

Gambit picked up a couple more eggs and broke them with a light charge. Rogue laughed.

"Do you often use your powers in the kitchen?" she asked.

"Not if I'm in Tante Mattie's kitchen, I don't."

Rogue grinned at that.

* * *

"Remy," Storm said as she and Logan entered the dining hall. "What's this I heard about you invading Emma's room this morning?"

"Stormy!" Gambit shouted.

Faster than Storm could blink—or Logan for that matter—Gambit had launched himself out of his chair and flung himself around Storm, wrapping his arms around her.

"I can blow stuff up again!"

"Squeaky, are we going to have to put up with you making a nuisance of yourself every time you reach another stage of puberty?" Logan growled the same time Storm said: "Uhh, congratulations?"

"Oui," Gambit said decisively. "And Rogue too. You won't believe what I have in mind for her when she grows back into that D-cup."

Snikt.

"What is your obsession with my boobs?" Rogue asked.

"I like boobs. Yours. Stormy's. Emma's. I like legs too. And hips and ass and—"

"We get the point," Rogue interrupted dryly.

"Yes, back to Emma," Storm said.

"What? I had to tell someone my glorious, fabulous, magnificent, wonderful news, and she was the only one I didn't care about waking up early in the morning," Gambit said gleefully. "By the way, did you know she actually wears clothes to bed? Who would have thought!"

"Remy, I want you to apologise to Emma—"

"Aww, you're no fun—"

"And then promise you're not going to let yourself into her bedroom again."

"Hmm, no."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm not going to promise I won't let myself in," Gambit said solemnly. "What if there's an emergency? What if there's a fire or something and her room is locked and I'm the only one who can get her out?"

"Remy—"

"Or what if she invites me in there one day? You wouldn't want me to be rude now would you? And for that matter, what if Emma moves to another room? Does the promise become invalid? Does it effect Emma's new room or does it stay with the old room regardless of who may move in there?"

"Goddess! Remy, just apologise to Emma and don't give me another reason to have this discussion with you!"

Gambit chuckled wickedly.

"Morning!" Kitty said cheerfully, then stopped and looked at everyone. "Okay...did I interrupt anything?"

"Hey watch this," Gambit said.

He picked up a handful of cards, charged them and flung them around the dining hall. As the dining hall was starting to become quite full, may of the breakfasters ducked and yelped in response. Gambit laughed.

"Cool," Kitty said.

"But this is not the place," Storm said firmly. "Save it for the danger room, Remy."

"Yeah," Logan said in a dangerous, smug tone of voice. "Guess I'll just have to start putting you on the training roster."

"All right! Fun!" Gambit replied delightedly.

"Yeah. Fun," Logan replied with a smirk.

"Oh, Rogue," Kitty said. "I was wondering... Pete and I made plans for Valentines Day, but I've just discovered I've been rostered on for dinner kitchen duty. Mind doing a trade with me?"

"I'm afraid Roguey already has plans," Gambit cut in quickly.

Rogue, who had her mouth open to agree to Kitty's trade, instead turned to Gambit with a confused expression on her face.

"You do?" Logan asked Rogue, but his eyes were on Gambit.

"Oh well, I guess I'll find someone else then," Kitty replied.

"No, it's fine, Kitty," Rogue said. "I can—"

"Aww, you're not cancelling on me, are you chère?" Gambit asked, giving her a pitiful look.

Logan growled.

"No, no," Kitty insisted as she made her way to the kitchen to get her own breakfast. "I don't want to spoil your plans. Maybe I'll try Emma."

"But—" Rogue tried again but Kitty had disappeared from view.

"Plans for Valentines Day?" Logan demanded.

"We didn't..." Rogue stammered and glared at Gambit. "You didn't... It's customary to _ask_ first, y'know."

"Okay," Gambit said cheerfully as he took her hand. "So, Roguey, how does dinner on Valentines Day sound? Bearing in mind of course, that Kitty already thinks we're going out..."

He kissed her hand softly and then smirked as he felt Logan's heavy hand on his shoulder.

"If you make me regret agreeing to this, Remy, I'll kick your ass," Rogue said.

"Don't worry, Rogue," Logan said darkly. "He's about to regret this morning all together. You and me have a little impromptu session in the danger room, Squeaky. Now."

"No femme ever regretted going out with me, chère," Gambit replied assuredly as Logan hauled him to his feet. "Why Logan, I like it when you get all assertive. Do you like it rough too?"

Logan pushed Gambit ahead of him.

"Oh you have no idea, Squeaky."

Storm sighed as the two left the room and sat down across from Rogue.

"I cannot believe I just agreed to that," Rogue muttered.

"Remy has that effect on people," Storm replied as she patted Rogue's shoulder sympathetically.

* * *

"Not too bad for a first time," Logan said. "Why'd you stopping blowing things up halfway through?"

"Umm, maybe because I only just got that ability back today?" Gambit snapped back at him. "I ran out of juice."

"...You can run out of juice?" Logan blinked at him in surprise. "You never run out of juice."

"Congratulations, it's a first," Gambit replied darkly. "Now, if you don't mind, I need a chance to recharge."

Logan chuckled.

"Well, well, well," Logan said smugly. "So, the Cajun does have a limited battery life after all."

"One of these days, M'sieur Claws, I'm going to get a very large magnet."

* * *

"Okay," Emma said as she pulled out of Rogue's head. "Everything appears to be progressing nicely."

"Thanks," Rogue replied.

"Rogue...about Gambit."

Rogue suppressed a sigh and looked at Emma apprehensively.

"I see he tricked you into going out with him."

"Well, sort of."

"This is exactly the kind of thing I was trying to warn you about," Emma said firmly. "I know you share some common ground in your situations, but you really have to start steering clear of him. He's very good at getting what he wants and I don't want to see him drag you down through the mud. Mark my words, as soon as he gets bored with you, he'll leave you there."

"Thanks for the advice."

Emma sighed.

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

* * *

Valentines Day arrive a little over a week later and Rogue was startled by a knock on her balcony door. Puzzled, she walked over and opened them to find Gambit beaming at her.

"Okay...how'd you... Never mind, I was forgetting you were an acrobat. Why are you on my balcony instead of the hallway?" she asked.

"More fun this way," Gambit replied, taking her hand and kissing it as he stepped inside her room. "And harder for Logan to figure out where we've gone."

"Oh? And just were are we going?"

"Downtown. Where's your helmet?" Gambit asked, looking around her room. "In the garage?"

"Uh huh. We're taking the motorcycles?"

"Actually, I figured we'd double on mine. We're both tall for our age, and at this time of night and wearing helmets we shouldn't attract any unwanted attention," Gambit said.

"You're not serious," Rogue said cautiously.

"Of course I'm serious. Why wouldn't I be?"

"But... but what if we get caught?"

"Don't insult me."

"Insult... Remy, there's nothing wrong with calling a taxi."

"C'mon chère, where's your sense of adventure?"

"I left it in my other pants," Rogue replied dryly.

Gambit looked her up and down.

"Then you'd better get changed," he said with a grin, and turned her back to her to allow her some privacy.

"Why you... Ooh!"

* * *

One change of pants and an uneventful motorcycle ride later, and the two were parked outside the Italian restaurant where Gambit had managed to get reservations for the night. Gambit swapped his motorcycle helmet for his sunglasses, and holding Rogue's hand, lead her inside.

"Hi," Gambit said cheerfully. "Reservation for LeBeau."

The host looked at the reservation slip and then at his book with some skepticism. After a disparaging glance at the pair, he turned on the polite and had them shown to their table. They didn't really say a whole lot whole they went through the menus and decided what they each wanted. Once Gambit had chosen, he picked up the wine list and had gotten halfway through the list when he remembered his ID said his birth year was 13 years ago, not 39. He put it down with a sigh.

"What?" Rogue asked.

"I'm so used to ordering drinks when I got out on a—to dinner."

"So am I," Rogue replied mischievously. "I was thinking of getting the iced chocolate."

"That's not what I meant," Gambit said dryly.

"I know."

Gambit chuckled softly and picked up the menu again to look at the list of drinks. Rogue grinned at him and put hers down.

"Just think," she teased. "You'll have just gotten used to not being able to order dri- alcoholic beverages when you're out, and then you'll turn twenty-one again."

"Probably," Gambit replied and then sighed before he continued: "I just don't think that iced chocolate will go with pasta."

"Won't go with... Remy?" Rogue asked curiously. "Are you one of those people who has to have a particular wine with a particular meal?"

"One of 'those people'?" Gambit repeated with a raised eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean, chère?"

"Oh nothing bad," Rogue dismissed with a wave of her hand. "I just never actually met someone in real life who was... fussy like that."

"It's all about bringing out the full flavour of a meal. Don't smirk at me like that."

Rogue giggled and Gambit pointed his finger at her.

"Just you wait, chère," Gambit said. "I'm going to educate your palate. Then we'll see who's laughing."

"Gonna educate my palate huh?"

"Oui."

"Just as long as I don't have to do the washing up."

Gambit laughed. Before too long their waiter arrived and they placed their order.

"Remy?"

"Oui?"

"Why did you ask me—well, _sort of_ ask me—out tonight?"

"Because I wanted to."

"Okay then," Rogue said, not entirely sure what to make of that reply.

"What?" Gambit asked, taking in the unsatisfied expression on her face. "A guy can't take out one of his girl friends because he just wants to?"

"No, I never said that," Rogue replied quickly. "I just... I don't know. I was kinda surprised and I mean, I was perfectly happy to trade with Kitty."

"I know," Gambit said gleefully. "This is more fun though."

"I'll grant you that," Rogue responded with an amused smile. "Just y'know, next time ask me first, okay?"

"D'accord," Gambit replied smugly.

"What?"

"I got you."

"Uh huh," Rogue said dryly. "Just how many times has Logan managed to push you to your limit this week, exploding-boy?"

"So worth it."

Rogue shook her head.

"You don't really have plans for when..." Rogue paused, then decided to drop it. "Never mind."

"For what?" Gambit asked.

"Don't worry," Rogue insisted.

Gambit looked at her expectantly. Rogue sighed and looked down at the table.

"You told Logan that morning that you were planning on making a big deal out of each stage of puberty and you had something in mind for when I uhhh... returned to my previous bra size."

"Ahh. No, I was just saying that to get a rise out of Logan."

"You seem to enjoy doing that huh?"

"Oui," Gambit said, his eyes glinting with mischief. "I can make plans if you want."

"Pass."

"We can hit Victoria's Secret and I can buy you—"

"No!"

"Darn, now I really want to do it."

"I regret ever raising the subject."

"I'd all but forgotten about it. Something black and lacy, I think."

Gambit laughed at the pained expression that appeared on Rogue's face.


	16. I Protest Just the Right Amount

**Chapter 15: I Protest Just the Right Amount**

"So, Rogue..." Bobby said tentatively as he sat down beside her in the gym.

"Hey Bobby," Rogue replied as she wiped the sweat off her brow with her arm.

"I'm not interrupting am I?"

"That depends on whether you want to spar with me or not."

Bobby chuckled softly and joined her on the mat.

"I can do that," he said. "How have you been going?"

"Pretty well," she replied as they circled.

"I umm, I heard you went out with Remy the other night?"

"Uh huh."

"How'd that go?"

Conversation was interrupted briefly as they exchanged a few blows.

"Fine," Rogue said.

"You, umm... you seem to be spending a lot of time together lately."

"No more than usual. It probably only seems that way because I'm not hanging out with you as much as we used to. Y'know, when we were _dating_."

Another spat of blows followed.

"Plus," Rogue added. "You started seeing that Samantha chick, right?"

"Yeah. Right."

"Something bothering you, Bobby?" she asked, noting his distraction.

"No, no. I just... I wasn't expecting you and Remy to start—"

"If you say 'dating' I'm going to kick your ass. Oh wait," Rogue said, then kicked out her leg at Bobby, unbalancing him and sending him to the floor. "I'm already doing that."

"Damn Rogue, I remember when I used to kick your butt all the time," Bobby grunted.

"Yeah well, I'm melee and you're ranged, even when my powers are active," Rogue said cheerfully as she sat on him. "This was inevitable."

"Yeah, probably."

"Quite frankly, I didn't expect you to start dating again as soon as you did."

"Well, it's was just y'know, one of those things. Just sorta happened."

"Uh huh," Rogue said as she stood and let him up. "Look, I'm going to hit the showers."

"Okay. Just umm..." Bobby trailed off uncertainly.

"Bobby," Rogue asked suspiciously. "You're not jealous, are you?"

"Jealous?" Bobby repeated. "Who me? No. I was just, y'know, wondering."

"Right well, if it makes you feel any better, Bobby," Rogue said as she sauntered out of the room. "I feel the same way about Remy that you do about me."

Bobby sighed and shook his head.

"Not really," he mumbled to himself.

* * *

"Right then," Gambit said to his latest class. "For those of you who don't know by now, I'm Gambit. Rogue over there is my teaching assistant. If you guys have any questions at all feel free to ask either of us—Oui?"

"You look like my baby brother," said one of the students at the back of the class.

"Really? John Proudstar right? I didn't think I looked that much like James."

"Whatever," John dismissed. "I'm leaving."

"Okay then," Gambit said cheerfully. "Rogue? Would you mind giving Logan a call and tell him to expect Thunderbird in the danger room."

John stopped in the middle of walking out. Gambit looked at him steadily while Rogue pulled out her phone. John looked between them, sighed heavily and sat back down again.

"I thought you were leaving," Gambit said.

"Changed my mind. I can do that, can't I?" John asked sarcastically.

Gambit didn't even bother to acknowledge him, merely turned his attention to the rest of the class as Rogue smirked and put her phone away.

"Now," Gambit said. "I believe that everyone here has done the first half of this course, so we're going to move onto the second half."

* * *

"Bonjour?"

"Bonjour Oncle Henri," Gambit said cheerfully into the phone.

"Hi Remy," Henri said tolerantly.

"I heard you've been promoted."

"Really? Imagine that."

Gambit chuckled.

"Congratulations, frère," Gambit said.

"This should be your job, y'know," Henri said disgustedly. "I was looking forward to a lifetime of heists."

"Sucked in."

"Thanks for your vote of confidence."

"I'm sure you'll do a great job."

"Yeah, yeah."

* * *

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Ro-ogue! Happy Birthday to you!"

Rogue laughed and started pulling out the fourteen candles. Storm handed her a knife.

"Want to cut the cake?" Storm asked.

"Thanks," Rogue said, accepting the knife.

"Oooh! Comes-out-dirty-have-to-kiss-the-nearest-guy!" Jubilee yelled before Rogue could put the knife to the cake.

"That is such a stupid tradition," Rogue said, giving her a dire look.

Jubilee chuckled.

"Excuse me, coming through," Gambit said, winding his way through the crowd towards Rogue.

With a 'snikt' a set of claws appeared in front of Gambit.

"Limbo!" Gambit yelled, and in rapid limbo style ducked under them, sat on the side of Rogue's chair and wrapped his arm across her shoulders.

"Guess what Remy," Rogue said as she pushed the knife into the cake.

"What, ma chère?" Gambit asked.

"I'm older than you," Rogue teased.

Gambit laughed and Rogue pulled the knife out.

"Well?" Gambit said, grinning at her.

"Well, what?" Rogue asked.

"Where's my kiss?"

Logan growled behind them. Rogue gave Gambit a long look and he grinned back at her cheekily.

"Jubes?" Rogue said, her eyes still on Gambit's face.

"Yeah?" Jubilee asked.

"You said the nearest _guy_ right?"

"Yeah..."

Rogue stood up and kissed Logan on the cheek. Gambit tilted back his head and laughed.

* * *

During the week that followed, Rogue found a large enough break in her schedule to go downtown to make use of one of her birthday gifts. Some of the girls had chipped in and bought Rogue a glamour photo session and now here she was, in the waiting room with a bag of clothing at her feet and looking through one of the example photo albums with Storm.

Gambit was with them too—he'd decided that while Rogue was busy getting her photo taken he was going to buy himself a new TV for his room. He'd gotten tired of sharing—or attempting to share—the school's TVs. He sat back in his chair, tapping his fingers on the arm of the chair and looked around the room. These kinds of places weren't really his thing, but a few years back he did date a design consultant who worked in a place just like this. What was her name again? Laura? Lyndsey?

"Hi, I'm Laverne," said the shapely brunette who entered the room.

Laverne. That was it.

Oh crap.

"Which one of you is Anna Howlett?" Laverne inquired, looking between Rogue and Storm.

"I am," Rogue said, looking up from the album that Gambit was now eying in horror behind his dark sunglasses.

"Great. I'll be your design consultant," Laverne said, sitting down next to her. "Seen anything you like?"

"I'm still going through it," Rogue replied, looking back down and turning the page. They all seem so... oh!"

Laverne chuckled.

"Yes, I'm rather fond of that photo myself," she said. "I don't think you could pull it off though."

"No..." Rogue said slowly, glancing up towards Gambit. "Probably not."

Gambit pretended not to notice Rogue and Storm looking at him. Why couldn't they have pulled that photo? Hell, why had he even let Laverne even talk him into a session in the first place? Storm put her hand up to her mouth and stifled a laugh.

"Actually, come to think of it, he looks a little familiar," Rogue went on and lifted up the album to show Gambit the photo of his shirtless adult self. "What do you think, Remy. Recognise him?"

"Non," Gambit replied, refusing to even look. "Never seen him before in my life."

"Reeeeeally? Because, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think he looks like your Dad," Rogue said mischievously. "You know, Remy the _First_."

"You're Remy LeBeau's son?" Laverne asked.

_"Thanks a lot, Rogue,"_ Gambit thought to himself before saying aloud: "Oui."

"Wow, I never knew he had a son," Laverne said in surprise. "We used to date. How is he?"

"He's dead," Gambit replied shortly.

"Oh! I'm so sorry," Laverne said, somewhat taken aback. "I... what happened? If you don't mind my asking."

"He was murdered," Gambit answered after a pause.

"Murdered?" Laverne repeated, her eyes wide. "Wow that's... I... I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, I don't really want to talk about it," Gambit replied, wishing to end this conversation before it got any more awkward.

"He was a good man."

"Thanks."

"Would you like to join me for my photo shoot, Remy?" Rogue asked, her voice filled with mischief. "We could get a picture of you in this exact pose."

"That's a great idea," Laverne said before Gambit could say no.

"Yeah?" Gambit drawled and pulled off his sunglasses. "Think you can do anything with these?"

"Wow," Laverne said, blinking in surprise before nodding decisively. "Absolutely."

"That doesn't involve a demon costume?" Gambit said pointedly.

"Please," Laverne said, waving her hand is dismissal. "We do glamour photos here, not tacky ones. You know, your father's eyes used to glow when he used his powers. I would have loved to have gotten some photos of him charging playing cards with his red glowing eyes, but the photographer I was working with at the time was anti-mutant."

"Remy can do that too," Rogue said gleefully.

"Really?" Laverne said, her eyes bright. "Now, don't let me pressure you, but if you'd like to join us, it'll be no extra charge."

Gambit was about to say no when Laverne added: "We'll upgrade you to the couples package and you can get some nice photos with your girlfriend."

"We're not—" Rogue started to say.

"Sure, who am I to pass on free stuff?" Gambit interrupted slyly. "Besides, I have it on good authority I'm very photogenic. Isn't that right, Anna-chère?"

Rogue shot him a dark look and Storm buried her face in her hand.

* * *

While the photo shoot was going on, Storm opted to do some shopping of her own. She was somewhat amused that of all the photo studios they ended up going to, it was one Gambit's ex-girlfriend worked at. On the other hand, this was Gambit she was thinking about here; perhaps they should be amazed they didn't run into his former lovers more often.

Her timing was pretty good; Storm arrived back at the studio just as Rogue and Gambit were looking through the different photos and picking out the ones they liked. Gambit's arm was resting comfortably around Rogue and Storm wondered at that. Gambit might proclaim occasionally that he wasn't attracted to Rogue on account of her being so visually underage, and perhaps there was some grain of truth there—that was the reason that Bobby broke up with her after all. But Bobby still had feelings for Rogue regardless of her appearance, and Storm wondered if the same was true for Gambit. It was hard so say; no matter how long she had known him, Gambit could be very hard to read at times.

"How are they looking?" Storm asked.

"Hi Storm," Rogue said cheerfully. "Come see! I love this picture of me. I'm sexy."

Storm laughed softly and looked over Rogue shoulder.

"Very nice," Storm said.

"I like this picture," Gambit said mischievously, pointing to one of himself and Rogue together. "Don't we make such a cute couple?"

"Shut it, Swamp Rat," Rogue said shortly.

"Aww, you know we do, my little River Rat."

"I like this picture of you," Rogue said, ignoring the gentle squeeze he gave her and pointing to the picture in question.

"See?" Gambit said, his eyes glittering. "I always knew you wanted to get me shirtless."

"Of course," Rogue drawled. "This one with the playing cards is better."

"I like both of them," Storm said. "And I like this one of you too, Rogue."

"Yeah," Rogue said with a smile. "I was a little weirded out when they wanted to do that with my white streak, but it came out way better than I thought."

It was another fifteen minutes before Rogue and Gambit finally finished deciding on what photos they wanted. They put in the order and were told they'd be ready in about three weeks, and they'd call to let them know. Gambit was still insistent on purchasing his new TV though, so that was their next stop. And by 'next stop' what we really mean is 'next five stops' as Gambit toured all the retailers. This was entirely practical from Gambit's perspective, but incredibly boring from Storm and Rogue's prospective and they ended up waiting on a bench.

"So, Rogue," Storm said after a time. "Did you have any plans for the summer?"

"Not really," Rogue shrugged. "What about you?"

"Actually I was planning on going away for a couple of weeks in July," Storm admitted.

"Really? Because I know that Logan was planning on going up to Canada and... oooh, you're not joining him are you?" Rogue asked gleefully.

"Well, perhaps."

"Aww, that's so sweet," Rogue said happily. "You two have a great time."

"We shall."

"Just curious though," Rogue went on. "Are you guys ever going to make it public? I mean, I haven't said anything myself, but I know Emma knows—she goes inside my head every week after all. Besides, this is a school, y'know, people have started noticing things and talking."

"Well, that's part of the reason for this getaway," Storm replied. "We just want to figure things out for ourselves away from the school. We're not even entirely sure how far we want to take things."

"Fair enough," Rogue nodded. "Oh, and Remy's definitely figured it out _and_ I'm pretty sure he knows I know."

"That wouldn't surprise me in the slightest," Storm replied. "He's a lot more perceptive than people give him credit for."

"I've gotten that impression myself. Is it just me or has he stopped hugging you as often?" Rogue asked with a considering frown.

"Actually, now that you mention it, he has cut back on them. Of course, he's gained a couple of inches too, so his original plot doesn't work quite as well as it used to," Storm mused.

"I don't know why you put up with him acting like such a lecher."

"Well, that's the key word, isn't it Rogue? Acting. Anyway, Hank'll be in charge while we're gone," Storm said briskly, her face turning serious. "Do you still have that emergency credit card I gave you?"

"Yep."

"I need you to make sure that Remy and Emma don't clash while we're away."

"Well, there's a full-time job right there," Rogue joked.

"I'm serious, Rogue," Storm said fiercely. "Do whatever it takes. If it means you have to buy Remy a stripper or Emma a whole shop full of white lingerie, do it. Just so long as the mansion is still intact when we get back."

Rogue laughed and nodded.

"Okay then," she said. "I just won't tell either of them you said that."

"Probably wise," Storm said and looked up in time to see Gambit headed out of the latest store and walking towards them.

"Stormy," Gambit called as he joined them. "I've decided—"

"Finally," Rogue muttered.

"—and am in need of an adult presence to prove I'm not some punk kid trying to cause trouble."

"But Remy," Rogue said. "You _are_ a punk kid."

"Takes one to know one," Gambit retorted cheekily.

"Sometimes," Storm said as she stood up, "I think you two are worse than real kids your age."

* * *

"Okay chère," Gambit said once they were back at home. "Would you mind holding this in place why I screw the base on?"

"Sure," Rogue replied.

She took hold of the large screen and kept it steady while Gambit took the screws and the screwdriver, and moved around the back of the TV.

"Merci," he said.

"Say Remy?"

"Oui?"

"That photo shoot you did for Laverne, were there any other photos?" Rogue asked curiously. "Or did you just do the one for the sample album."

"No, there were others," he replied distractedly.

"Do you have them?"

"They're probably back in N'Awlins somewhere," Gambit dismissed.

"Oh," Rogue replied, trying not to sound disappointed.

Gambit grinned as he lined up the next screw.

"I just don't carry those kinds of things around, chère," he said, sounding amused. "I'm not in love with myself you know."

"Coulda fooled me," she joked.

"Why so interested? You liked what you saw?" Gambit teased her.

"Of course I did. It was a great example of what can be accomplished with airbrushing."

Gambit laughed.

"Okay, that's the last one."

Rogue stood back against the edge of the bed while Gambit moved his new TV into place. Satisfied, he moved beside her to admire it.

"Looks good, doesn't it?" he said, sounding well-pleased.

"Yep. Just the right size for this room too," Rogue agreed.

"And now to set up the blu-ray player," Gambit said gleefully. "Y'know what chère?"

"What?" she asked, leaning her head towards him.

"You and me are going to have to have a movie night one of these nights."

"I'd like that. Logan probably won't though."

"That's just incentive."

Rogue giggled.

* * *

"Hey Rogue," Kitty called to her friend a little later that day. "How'd it go?"

"Pretty good actually," Rogue replied cheerfully as she joined the group at the table. "The shoot was a lot of fun. Thanks so much."

"No problem. When do you get the photos?"

"Three weeks. They'll call."

"Cool. What's that silly grin for, girl?" Jubilee asked.

"We bumped into one of Remy's ex's," Rogue said gleefully.

"Oh yeah?" asked Warren. "How'd that go?"

Gambit arrived in the room just in time to hear Rogue say: "She was the design consultant at the photo studio." Gambit groaned and sat down.

"You're not going to tell everyone, are you chère?" he asked.

"Why not?" Rogue asked. "Everyone's going to wonder why we got photos together when Laverne was nice enough to upgrade us to the couples package. You wouldn't happen to be embarrassed about this would you?"

"Me? Nah," Gambit dismissed.

"Oh really?" Rogue teased him. "Then you won't mind me telling everyone how there's a photo of you in their sample albums."

"There is?" Kitty asked.

"Oh yes," Rogue said merrily. "Nearly didn't recognise him because the only time I ever saw him that age was very briefly in the med lab while he was regressing. But there he was in all his adult, shirtless glory."

"Sex must have been good," Gambit muttered. "Only way I ever would have let myself be talked into that."

Different ones laughed at him.

"Only _one_ of his ex's?" Logan asked. "That's a shock. Squeaky's got more ex's than Solomon had wives and concubines combined. It's a wonder we're not bumping into one every two minutes."

"Very funny," Gambit said dryly. "How many women did he have, anyway?"

"Oh I don't know. A thousand?" Rogue said.

"Hmm, you're right," Logan considered. "Clearly I'm under-estimating here. Ten times that, minimum."

"Let's see," Gambit considered. "I'm thirty-nine, I lost it at thirteen—"

"Really?" Bobby asked. "You the man."

"Oui, I know," Gambit replied in dismissal before continuing: "If we take away the two years I spent at Strykers, and most of my thirty-ninth year that makes it twenty-three years I've had an active sex life. What's ten thousand divided by twenty-three?"

"Four hundred and thirty-four? Thirty-five?" Bobby replied.

"You worked that out quick," Gambit said.

"Well, I am studying accounting."

"True," Gambit conceded. "Over four hundred you say? That's more than there are days in the year."

"Yeah," Logan smirked at him. "I've see you go through three women in a night. It's doable."

"Really, mon ami? You've _seen_ that?" Gambit drawled, raising an eyebrow.

"And that's before you've left the bar."

"Okay seriously," Gambit said, well, seriously. "There is no way I go through that many women in a year."

"Sure you don't," Logan replied.

"I don't!"

"Methinks you doth protest too much," Rogue teased him.

"No, I protest just the right amount. Believe it or not, I do have actual relationships that last months."

"Wow, _months_ huh? And here I was thinking years was impressive."

"Years _is_ impressive for Squeaky," Logan said.

"The point is, that when I'm in such a relationship, I don't sleep around. So despite what you might make of my one night stands, Logan, there is absolutely no way whatsoever that I've ever been with that many women," Gambit insisted.

"You know what's even more impressive?" Rogue said to Logan.

"What's that, Stripes?" Logan asked.

"That he hasn't gotten every STD known to man."

"This is true."

"It's not so impressive that he's never gotten anyone pregnant though. Clearly he's sterile."

Logan laughed.

"I'm not sterile!" Gambit objected.

"Oh reaaaaally?" Rogue drawled. "How do you know that, if you've never gotten anyone pregnant, _Squeaky_?"

She was just going to forget about Mignonette, seeing as how her parentage hadn't been confirmed. Besides, Rogue figured Gambit probably wouldn't want Logan to know about that.

"Chère," Gambit replied darkly. "If we have this discussion again, I'm going to take that as an invitation to prove I'm not; _with you_."

The 'snikt' that followed was very close to Gambit's ears. In fact, there was one claw either side of Gambit's neck.

"Ahh," Gambit said, not moving a muscle. "Too far?"

"Yep," Logan replied.

"So, you going to kill me? Or another impromptu danger room session?"

"Close. I'm going to kill you _in_ an impromptu danger room session."

* * *

**AN: **John Proudstar is comic-canon


	17. Closing Doors

**Chapter 16: Closing Doors**

Kitty went with Rogue to the photo studio to pick up the photos. While Rogue waited, Kitty flipped through the album to find the photo of Gambit.

"Wow, you're right," Kitty said. "He is hot."

Rogue chuckled.

"Just don't say that in his ear shot," Rogue said. "It'll go to his head, and that ego of his is puffed up enough as it is."

"You know, I noticed that," Kitty giggled.

The door opened and out came the receptionist and Laverne.

"Here you are, Anna," Laverne said. "Remy's not with you?"

"No, he was busy."

"Ahh. Well, could you do me a favour?" Laverne asked, handing Rogue another CD. "This is a copy of the photos we shot of his father a few years back. I have no idea what Remy—err, his father—would have done with his copies after we broke up, and I thought Remy—your Remy—might like them. There are some very nice shots in here, and not all of them are so..."

"Sexy?"

"I was going to say suggestive. They're all sexy."

Rogue laughed.

"Well, thanks," Rogue said. "I'm sure Remy'll appreciate the thought."

Once the handover was complete, Rogue and Kitty headed out.

"Remy's not going to get that CD is he?" Kitty asked.

"Not straight away," Rogue replied with mischief.

* * *

As soon as Rogue, Jubilee and Kitty and a spare moment, the three went down to the computer lab and slipped the CD into the drive. There was a handful of high resolution images and three of which actually involved Gambit wearing a shirt.

"Aww that's nice," Kitty said, looking at the first picture. "He looks rather handsome actually."

"Yeah," Jubilee agreed.

"I like this one," Rogue said after opening up the second image. "That leather jacket looks good on him."

"He does look very sexy leaning up against the motorcycle like that," Kitty nodded.

"Oooh," Jubilee said as they opened up the third. "Go the bo-staff action."

"And now for the shirtless pictures," Rogue said gleefully. "Oh! This is the one they have on display."

"Nice. I could go those abs," Jubilee said.

Rogue laughed and flipped to the next photo.

"Provocative much?" Kitty said.

"Dammit," said Jubilee. "Why did he have to age to thirteen instead of twenty-three?"

"I know what you mean," Rogue said. "Although maybe it's a good thing. I think I prefer losing years over gaining them—or is that the other way around? Whatever. You know what I mean. Next photo."

"Wow. I wonder how many decks of cards they needed for that shot?" Kitty mused.

"And last one..." Rogue said, clicking on the final thumbnail.

They all stopped and stared.

"Is he naked?" Jubilee asked.

"No, it just looks like he's naked," Rogue decided. "You can't actually see anything nasty."

"And Laverne thought this would be appropriate for his thirteen year old son to see?" Kitty said.

"She probably had the shirt photos in mind," Rogue said. "I bet she just copied the whole CD without looking at it."

"_Without_ looking at it? When she would have known there was an almost-naked photo of Remy on it?" Kitty said skeptically. "I mean, I love Pete and all, but seriously, Remy's smokin' here."

"Okay, maybe she copied the whole CD and then looked at it and by then it was too late," Rogue replied. "I don't know. Do I look like a Laverne to you?"

"Well, I'm not complaining," Jubilee said. "He's hot. It's a hot shot. He's a hot shot."

The girls giggled.

* * *

A little later that day, Rogue pulled out the first photo of herself from the photo shoot she and Gambit did three weeks back so that everyone could see.

"Look," Rogue giggled. "I'm sexy."

"I could have told you that, chère," Gambit grinned at her.

"There," Rogue said, handing the photos around. "And this is another one of me. And this is Remy doing a cool card-charging shot."

"Oooh," Jubilee said. "I like how the camera was able to pick up the magenta. Very cool."

"And this is shirtless Remy copying the pose from the promo photo," Rogue said gleefully. "The adult photo is hotter, by the way."

Logan snickered and Gambit pulled a face at him.

"And this is one of the couple photos because Laverne assumed we were dating and _someone_ wouldn't let me correct her," Rogue said, looking pointedly at Gambit who grinned wickedly back at her.

"Aww," Kitty said. "I like it. It's cute."

"And here's the last photo and another couple shot," Rogue said, handing over the last photo.

"Cool," Bobby said. "A casino shot."

"Yeah," Rogue smirked. "It's the closest Remy's been able to get to a real casino in years."

"At least I'm a player and not a good luck charm," Gambit replied.

"Yeah we all know about what kind of a player you are," Logan said.

"Oui. One that always wins."

* * *

One fine evening a week later there was a knock on Gambit's door and he opened it to find Rogue standing there with a large envelope in her hands.

"Why chère, this is a pleasant surprise," he said, as he widened the door and gestured for her to come in.

"I made something for you," she replied.

"Aww, and it's not even my birthday."

Rogue chuckled as Gambit closed the door. She opened up the envelope and pulled out a couple of photos she'd printed out on the photo printer in the computer lab earlier.

"I thought you might like some father-son photos for yourself," she said.

Gambit accepted the photos with a curious frown and smiled when he saw Rogue had merged and edited a photo of his current self and a photo of his adult self together to make it look like a family photo. He chuckled.

"I like it. Merci. I—" Gambit paused as he realised where he recognised the adult photo from. "Chère... Where did you get the original photos?"

Rogue smirked at him and pulled out a CD.

"Laverne thought you might want copies of the original photos of your 'Dad'."

"Mon dieu," Gambit breathed, his eyes wide in horror and he asked urgently: "Rogue has anyone else seen them?"

"Me, Kitty and Jubes," Rogue replied, her eyes glittering brightly.

"Not Logan?"

"No."

"Merci dieu," Gambit replied in obvious relief. "He'd never let me hear the end of it."

"Especially the nakey photo," Rogue teased him.

"I did not pose naked," Gambit informed her shortly.

"Close enough," she replied cheekily.

"Rogue can you just..." Gambit paused, closed his eyes briefly and held and hand out to her. "Please don't tell or show anyone else? And make sure Kitty and Jubilee don't either."

"You really are embarrassed about this, huh?" Rogue replied in amusement.

"No, it's not that," Gambit insisted. "I just—"

"You're embarrassed," Rogue teased.

"Fine. If admitting that will ensure you don't spread these around—and I'm assuming you've kept copies for yourself—then—" Gambit stopped as Rogue handed him another set of photos. "What's this?"

"Photos of me," Rogue said with quiet merriment. "We have a bunch of photos from different events on the school computers. Most of me I'm all covered up."

Gambit was silent as he looked at the first couple of photos.

"Still sexy," he said softly.

"There was however, a pool party last year. Right after I got the Cure and before you showed up," Rogue said as Gambit turned to the last photo in the pile. "I figured after seeing pictures of you shirtless and just about naked, you might appreciate seeing me in my bikini. Fair trade?"

"A very tiny bikini," Gambit said appreciatively.

"Well, you know," Rogue said mischievously. "Before then, every time I wanted to go swimming I had to wear a full body wetsuit. You could say I was compensating."

Gambit chuckled and looked up from the photos to grin at her.

"Were you in the habit of compensating in other ways, chérie?" he asked. "You didn't happen to wear sexy underthings beneath all your clothes, did you?"

Rogue smirked at him.

"I think I'll just let you wonder about that," she replied.

* * *

Not long thereafter, the school year ended and the occasion was marked with a formal dinner and dance night.

"Why Remy," Emma drawled. "You actually clean up nice. Who would have thought it was possible?"

"Oui," Gambit replied. "Pity the same can't be said about you."

"That's because I'm always stunning."

"True that. By the way, is that a wrinkle I see?"

"Unlikely."

"Care to dance?" Gambit asked, holding out his hand.

Emma glanced at him and smirked.

"I thought we already were," she said, even as she took his hand.

Logan rubbed his head as Gambit and Emma went out to the floor.

"I wish they'd just screw and get it over with," Logan said.

"Somehow I don't think that's going to happen," Storm commented dryly.

"I don't know 'Ro," Logan said dubiously. "Sometimes I think half the problem with those two is sexual tension."

"So, Rogue," said Bobby. "Want to dance?"

"You sure you want to?" Rogue drawled. "What would Samantha say?"

"Actually we broke up."

"Ahh," Rogue said as she followed Bobby out to the dance floor. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah she..." Bobby said tentatively. "She said she was tired of playing second fiddle to my ex."

Rogue didn't really know what to say to that and for a time they danced in silence.

"Rogue..." Bobby began uncertainly.

"Yeah?"

"Do you... do you suppose, I mean... maybe we could get back together?"

The was a pause.

"No," Rogue said. "No, Bobby, I'm not going to be on and off with you. How long before my underage appearance turns you off again?"

"Okay, I know that was stupid but I really think—"

"Think what? That you can get past it? Whatever happened to being worried about being attracted to real underage girls?"

"Yeah but, y'know, you're still a teenager—"

"And you're about to turn twenty! Besides, legally, I really am underage now. I just turned fourteen remember—"

"On paper—"

"Forget it, Bobby. I'm not going to do a stupid on/off relationship."

"This wouldn't be—"

"You don't know that!" Rogue exclaimed, pushing away. "If you're not seeing anyone in four years time, then come and talk to me. Not before."

Rogue turned on her heel and walked away while Bobby looked dejectedly after her.

"Remy," said Emma.

"Oui?" Gambit replied.

"Get your fingers out of my waistband."

"Maybe you should get your waistband off my fingers."

"Perhaps later."

"I _knew_ you were warming up to me."

"Hmm..." Emma said, her voice soft and sultry. "You have no idea."

"Do I make you hot, chère?" Gambit queried smoothly, sliding his hands down onto her behind.

Emma pressed in closer and smirked inwardly as she noted the way his eyes flicked downwards when her chest rubbed up against his. She leaned in towards him—nowadays he was only a couple of inches shorter than him so it was easy to move her lips close to his ear.

"Shall we leave the party early and find out?" she breathed suggestively.

"Why Emma," Gambit replied softly. "I had no idea you were into pubescent men."

"Hmm, you do raise a good point," Emma said as she stepped away from him and looked him up and down. "You're far too young for me."

Gambit watched her swagger away and chuckled softly. Emma had won that round and they both knew it. He coughed uncomfortably and bade a hasty retreat to the sidelines, seriously contemplating seeing if he could get her off with dirty thoughts again (goodness knows his own body was reacting pretty well). Then his eyes fell on Rogue sitting in the corner and not really looking all that happy. Gambit altered direction to sit down beside her.

"Having fun?" he asked after a moment of unacknowledged silence.

"Not really," Rogue replied shortly.

"Something happen?" Gambit inquired, wondering if she'd actually tell him or dismiss the matter—whatever it was.

Rogue sighed.

"Bobby wanted to get back together," she told him.

"Ahh," Gambit nodded. "What did you say?"

"I turn him down," Rogue replied forlornly. "I don't want a repeat breakup."

Gambit wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into his shoulder.

"Emma just tried to give me blue balls," he said. "The little tramp."

"What's—no, don't tell me," Rogue said quickly. "I probably don't want to know. Whatever it is, you probably deserved it."

"Thanks a lot," Gambit replied dryly.

"Well, you're always filling her head with dirty thoughts and making sexual innuendo and calling her a whore," Rogue pointed out.

"Hmm, good point," Gambit considered, frowning slightly. "She's not a whore, she's a dick tease."

"Sucked in," Rogue snickered.

"It's nice to know I have your sympathies," Gambit replied, tapping her nose.

"It's your own fault," Rogue nodded. "Actually I kinda wish you two would just admit you're crazy about each other—"

"Are not!" Gambit objected hotly.

"And get it over with," she finished decisively.

"I'm not crazy about Emma," he insisted.

"Suuuuure."

"I don't even like her."

"Uh huh."

"I just want to get in her pants."

"First honest thing you've said."

"That way I can give her the 'another notch on my belt' treatment," Gambit nodded.

"You are such a man-whoring bastard," Rogue replied in disgust.

Gambit sighed.

"Yeah, probably," he said ruefully.

Rogue looked at him curiously.

"Regrets, Remy?" she asked.

"I don't know," he said with a half-shrug. "Maybe the lack of sex is getting to me."

"Hmm," Rogue said, eyeing him thoughtfully. "You know, Remy the First was a man-whoring bastard. Remy the Second doesn't have to be."

Gambit cracked a smile.

"Just like Marie couldn't control her powers. Anna's going to," she added determinedly.

Gambit turned his head to look at Rogue and gave her a grin.

"I like your attitude," he said and kissed her forehead. "Wanna dance?"

"Sure."

Gambit took her hand and lead her out to the floor. Their timing was such that the music switched to a slow song just as they got out there. Gambit wrapped her up in his arms and Rogue rested her head on his shoulder. Gambit ignored Logan glowering at him from the sidelines. Rogue decided that she rather liked being held by Gambit, although she had no intention of ever admitting that to him. She liked the way he smelled, and the way his fingers gently rubbed her back.

That's what she should do sometime: Rogue had given all her other friends massages but she'd never offered Gambit one. Upon reflection, she decided that it was a draw between Logan objecting to the very idea and the likelihood that Gambit would start making sexual innuendos and suggestions. Well, perhaps while Logan and Storm were on holidays she'd offer him one. What Logan didn't know he couldn't object to, and if Gambit did start making a nuisance of himself, she simply wouldn't offer him one again. Easy solved.

* * *

_"Remy the First was a man-whoring bastard. Remy the Second doesn't have to be."_

These words seemed to echo through Gambit's head as he laid on his bed later that night. He freely admitted to sleeping around, although he was only nasty about it where women like Emma were concerned. He honestly didn't believe he was quite as bad as people like Logan tended to make out though.

Still, it was true he'd had trouble holding down a serious, truly long-term romantic relationship. It wasn't that he wasn't interested, it was more that... actually he didn't know. Gambit frowned, trying to remember the few serious relationships he'd had. Bella Donna was the first to spring to mind and in hindsight that had been a disaster from day one, what with Guild relations and Julien. There had been a couple of others in the last twenty years but for the life of him, Gambit couldn't figure out what had happened to make them go sour.

Was it him? Was there something in him that made him incapable of holding down a relationship? Or was it the classic out: Just hadn't met the right woman yet?

Gambit was disappointed that things between him and Storm never went that way. It sure hadn't been from lack of trying on his part, but perhaps it was better this way. He valued her friendship a great deal. He would hate to think that they may have ended up despising each other or something if they'd actually dated.

_"Remy the First was a man-whoring bastard. Remy the Second doesn't have to be."_

Perhaps Rogue was right. The only people from his past life who knew who he was were those he considered family, and Emma. Even though many at the school knew he was older than he appeared, only Logan, Storm and Emma had ever known the man he was before. If there was ever an opportunity to start fresh this was it.

This was the best chance he was ever going to have to figure out where he was going wrong, and fix it.

* * *

Emma was at work in her office when there was a knock at the door, shattering her concentration. There was only a snatch of thought, but it was enough to tell her it was Gambit at the door. What did _he_ want?

"Come in."

Gambit opened up the door and closed it behind him as he stepped inside. Much to Emma's surprise, he presented her with a bouquet of white roses. Unfortunately, what with Gambit's capacity for kinetic energy getting stronger every day, she couldn't read him unless he chose to let her, and she couldn't catch a glimpse of what this was all about.

"For you," he said.

"What's this about?" Emma demanded, eyeing the flowers suspiciously.

"Well, I was hoping that bygones could be bygones," Gambit replied. "I know there's a lot of history between us and we probably can't sweep it all under the rug, but I'd like to try anyway."

"...What are you trying to pull this time?" she asked, her eyes narrowing at him.

"Exactly what I said," he replied seriously. "I think that this little war between us has gone on quite long enough and I don't care to continue it any more."

"I'm not letting you into my pants," Emma informed him shortly, not believing a word that was coming out of his mouth.

"I don't think they'd fit," Gambit responded evenly. "Look, Emma, I've been given this chance to live my life differently and I want to make the most of it. I figure the best way to start is to burn down certain bridges to my past life. I don't know. Some of the bridges I'd like to tear down are probably made of adamantium, in which case trying to destroy them is futile, but I'm hoping this one's not. Do you think it's possible for us to start again?"

Emma said nothing, her eyes full of suspicion. Gambit nodded slowly and put the flowers on the desk.

"Only time will tell huh?" he said. "Well, I'm going to make the effort. Even if you can't ever trust me, Emma, I'm going to make the effort all the same."

Still Emma said nothing and Gambit left the office feeling lighter. Regardless of Emma's reaction, Gambit felt like he'd finally managed to let go of a meaningless but heavy burden that had been weighing him all this time. It felt good to let it go. Even if they could never be friends, he was determined to start treating Emma politely and without all the brazen disrespect as much as possible.


	18. Psylocke

**AN: **The thing I hate the most on a very long list of things I hate about X3 is that they named the cannon fodder. So generally I prefer to be in denial and pretend that the purple-haired woman wasn't really Psylocke. However, this time I decided to work with it just for fun :D

If Psylocke seems more Australian than English sometimes, it's because I am Australian and know very little about the English, hehe. (Actually the same probably applies to every other nationality I write, heh).

Psylocke, is of course, comic-canon.

But I digress: Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 17: Psylocke**

Rogue gave Logan a hug.

"Hey have a good time," she said.

"That's the plan, darlin'," Logan replied.

Rogue watched as Logan got on his motorcycle and drove off. Five days later, Storm also left, much to the excitement of the rumourmongers throughout the school. All the students who were able had gone home for the holidays, but there was still a substantial number of people still at the school.

Much to her surprise, Rogue had found it rather easy to keep Emma and Gambit from fighting. Gambit wasn't baiting Emma nearly as often and sometimes when Emma really got on his nerves, he would clench his jaw and actually walk out before Rogue needed to intervene. Everyone had noticed and they were all weirded out by this strange change in their interactions.

* * *

Gambit moaned softly as Rogue's hands dug into his bare skin.

"Not hurting you, am I?" Rogue asked.

"Not in a bad way," he replied.

Rogue chuckled and continued giving him the back massage. At first she had been rather dubious about this whole massage business, but Emma had insisted, saying it was important that she became comfortable with touching people again, and that she could touch people and do good instead of harm. In hindsight Rogue realised that she had been very nervous in the beginning and was well pleased with just how confident she was now.

Gambit laid there and enjoyed the feel of Rogue's hands making their way across his back, working out all the knots. He could kiss Emma for this, he really could. It felt amazing.

Rogue kept going until her hands got too tired, then laid down on the bed next to Gambit. He turned his head and smiled at her.

"Merci," he said.

"You're welcome," Rogue said, smiling back at him.

"Your turn," he added as he sat up.

"... What?" Rogue questioned, blinking at him

"I'm going to give you a massage now," he decided.

"Oh really?" she drawled.

"Oui."

"You just want to get me with my shirt off."

"You don't have to take anything off if you don't want to, chère," Gambit replied solemnly. "I just want to return the favour."

"You don't have to do that."

"I know."

Rogue cracked a smile. She gestured for him to turn around and once his eyes were averted, she took off her shirt and laid down on her stomach, keeping her bra in place.

"Okay," she said.

Gambit turned his head back to her and smiled at the sight of Rogue's lovely naked—except for the bra—back. He slipped his hands on her skin and felt her shudder slightly. Was it just him touching her, or anyone touching her? Slowly he put his fingers to work on her back, making his way down. After getting a little annoyed with the back of the bra being in the way, he undid it with a practised flick of his fingers and moved it aside.

"Hey," Rogue objected.

"In my way. I'll put it back when I'm done," Gambit assured her.

There was a moment's pause and Gambit felt her back muscles relax once more beneath his fingers. He continued with the massage until he looked up at the clock and discovered it was past eight in the evening. True to his word, he did her bra back up again and laid down beside her.

"We missed dinner," he said.

Rogue glanced at the clock.

"So we did," she said, then added softly. "Hey, thanks. No one's ever returned the favour and given me a back massage before."

"Really? That's a surprise," Gambit replied. "I would have thought everyone would have jumped at the chance to touch you."

Rogue laughed and Gambit grinned at her.

"Hey, any time you want another one..." he said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Thanks," Rogue replied appreciatively.

"Movie night?" Gambit suggested.

"Yeah, sure. Why not?" she replied agreeably.

"Okay," Gambit said.

He got up off the bed and started going through the movies. Rogue took advantage of his back being turned to grab her shirt and put it back on.

"In the mood for Arnie?" Gambit asked.

"Yeah sure," Rogue replied.

Gambit put one of the discs into the machine, then headed to the cupboard where he kept a bowl and some popcorn. Rogue giggled as Gambit charged up the kernels to pop them, and charged up some butter to melt it.

"Better than a microwave," she said as he handed her the bowl.

"Absolutely," Gambit agreed and opened up his mini fridge. "Soda?"

"Thanks."

Gambit pulled out a couple of drinks, then sat back on the bed next to Rogue to watch the movie.

* * *

Door and phone duty ranged between the insanely busy to the down right boring. Unfortunately it was also one of those unavoidable chores they had a roster for. Still, at those boring times it was possible to keep yourself entertained, even to use the time productively. Warren usually used the time to study, however as Uni was on break, he was amusing himself with weird videos on YouTube.

Buzzt!

"Ahh!"

With a start, Warren hit the pause and looked around. Ahh, someone at the front gate. He hit the button for the intercom as his eyes flickered to the figure on the screen. A taxi driver—nothing unusual there.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

"I have a Betsy Braddock for Dr McCoy," replied the driver.

Warren glanced at the list of expected visitors.

"Come on in," he said, pressing the button for the gates to open.

As Warren watched the taxi proceed down the driveway, he pressed the intercom for the med lab.

"Hank? A Betsy Braddock has arrived."

"Ahh, excellent," Hank replied. "Will you greet her for me? I'll just be a couple of minutes."

"Sure thing."

Warren waited until the taxi pulled up outside the door before he stepped out of the office and opened up the front door. The taxi drove off as a slender Japanese woman walked up the stairs, dragging one of those wheeled suitcases behind her. Her hair was streaked with deep purple and as she looked up and focused on him, her dark eyes widened. At first Warren thought it was the wings—that's usually what it was—but as he lifted his hand to scratched his chest nervously he remembered he was shirtless. Hey, when you have wings growing out of your back, shirtless it a lot more comfortable—especially on hot days like today.

"Uhh, hi," Warren said. "I'm Warren. Hank—err, Dr McCoy will be here in a minute. Come on in."

"Thank you," Betsy replied shortly with a clipped English accent. "I'm Betsy Braddock."

"Pleased to meet you."

Warren held the door open for Betsy and closed it after she and her bag made it inside. He couldn't quite read the look that she was giving him, but before he could think of anything more to say, the awkward moment was interrupted by voices and the appearance of Rogue and Gambit in their swimwear, walking down the stairs.

"Absolutely not," Rogue said firmly. "I'm not going to the mall with you just so you can spit on people from the balcony."

"Aww, but we're teenagers, chère," Gambit replied. "We're supposed to do socially unacceptable stuff ad nauseum."

"Is this what you did the first time you were thirteen?" she demanded. "Spit on people in malls?"

"Actually, I was too busy stealing from them," Gambit said cheerfully, then noticed Warren and Betsy in the hall. "Oh hi."

"Ahh, Betsy these are Rogue and Remy," Warren said. "Guys this is Betsy."

"Bonjour mam'selle," Gambit said suavely, taking Betsy's hand and kissing her knuckles. "A pleasure to meet you."

Rogue rolled her eyes.

"Charmed I'm sure," Betsy replied dryly, paying no mind to the way he searched her face.

"Ignore him," Rogue said. "He's an idiot."

"Takes one to know one," Gambit replied.

"Says the guy who thinks spitting on people is entertaining."

"Will you take water bombs as a substitute?"

"I am not going to stand by and watch you get people wet in the mall."

"Then why are we making plans to go shopping at all, chère? What with me being so devilishly sexy and all, women getting wet is inevitable."

"... I should have phrased that differently, shouldn't I?"

"Oui," Gambit replied mischievously.

"C'mon Casanova," Rogue said disgustedly, grabbing his arm. "I think you've freaked out our visitor quite enough. Nice meeting you Betsy."

Betsy really didn't know what to say as she watched Rogue drag Gambit away. She turned her head and looked at Warren.

"Yeah, they're always like that," Warren said.

"Right," Betsy replied. "Is that accent for real?"

"Remy's? Yeah, as far as I know. Of course, he's also the only Cajun I've ever met so—"

"Cajun?"

"Ahh, French descent from Louisiana. 'Cajun' is slang or short for 'Acadien'."

"Right then," Betsy replied, then muttered under her breath: "I swear by the time I get out of this stupid country, I'm going to be a bloody expert on American subcultures."

"Sorry, what was that?" Warren asked, not having quite heard her last sentence.

"Nothing."

"Okay, well..." Warren stammered uncertainly. "What brings you to Xaviers?"

Betsy opened her mouth to reply when she was interrupted by Hank's arrival.

"Apologies for taking so long," Hank said. "Ahh, you must be Betsy Braddock, a pleasure to finally meet you in person. We have a room set aside for you."

"Thank you," Betsy replied.

"And thank you, Warren," Hank added.

"Right, well, I should get back then," Warren said. "It was nice meeting you Betsy."

* * *

Later that day, Rogue arrived at Emma's office for her weekly mental checkup. She was a little surprised to find Betsy in there.

"Hi?" Rogue said.

"Ahh, good Rogue, you're here," Emma said. "Rogue, this is Betsy Braddock. Betsy, this is Rogue."

"Yes, we met briefly when I arrived," Betsy said.

"Betsy is a telepath," Emma told Rogue after a brief nod of acknowledgement to Betsy. "She is here to learn and she shall be sitting in on our sessions from now on."

"Okay," Rogue replied.

"Now, as I was saying," Emma said, turning back to Betsy and gesturing to a folder on the desk. "This is Rogue's mindscape from last week and this is where we shall be investigating today. If we look at this mindscape from... three months ago. Can you see what's changed?"

"Yes," Betsy replied, looking down at the page. "This node has enlarged."

"Now, we probably won't expect to see too much of a change in the last week, however, like every other part of growing up mutant powers will run through growth spurts of their own and as we know Rogue was unable to control her powers for three years, we want to keep a close eye on her development. Let us begin."

Rogue sat back in her chair and watched as Emma and Betsy relaxed. She liked to try and keep her mind clear as much as possible, but it could be difficult to keep her mind from wandering while telepaths were doing their thing. Rogue waited patiently for them to finish. When they passed the fifteen minute mark, Rogue figured it was because Emma was giving Betsy instruction. Finally they pulled out.

"Thank you Rogue," Emma said. "Everything looks fine. You may go now."

"Thanks," Rogue replied.

As Rogue departed, Emma handed Betsy pen and paper.

"Now, the trick to this is to get the mindscape drawn as soon as you pull out," Emma said to Betsy. "That way you remember all the details."

* * *

Betsy sat at the table in the dining hall for dinner and placed her plate on the table. She's already been introduced to the different ones there: Warren, Kitty, Pete, Jubilee and Bobby. There were two other chairs free now that she was sitting on hers.

"So, uhh, how's your first day been?" Warren asked.

"It was fine," Betsy replied. "And how's your father doing these days?"

"I..." Warren began, a little thrown off by the question. "Fine."

"Pity."

"I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"No, but I know you, Warren Worthington the Third. You might remember that _lovely_ day at Alcatraz when you rescued your dear father after he got thrown off the building?" Betsy leaned forward and finished coldly: "I helped throw him off."

Warren was stunned into silence.

"You were with the Omega group?" Kitty asked.

"Yes I was, and you have no idea how much it disgusts me that you X-men actually supported the Cure business," Betsy replied. "Let me make myself clear: I am here to learn, not to make friends."

"Huh. Then why are you sitting at our table?"

"Show me one that isn't already populated by traitors and I'll move."

"Traitors?" Kitty snapped and pointed at one of the teenagers at another table. "See him? His name is Jimmy. _He_ was the source of the Cure. You know, the person your Omega group was plotting to _kill_? If the X-men are traitors, then I'd rather be a traitor than a child-killer."

"If you don't like us so much, why are you here at all?" Bobby asked.

"To learn, as I said," Betsy replied without batting an eye. "Emma Frost is the best telepath around, and this is where she teaches."

"Just think," Jubilee said. "If she has this attitude towards us I'd hate to think what she thinks of Rogue. You know, having the audacity to get the Cure voluntarily. Oh, and speaking of which, here comes our unofficial couple now."

Kitty giggled.

"Rogue would kill you if she heard you say that," Kitty said.

"It's only a matter of time," Jubilee nodded sagely.

"Hey guys," Rogue said as she and Gambit joined the table, plates in hand. "What's up?"

"Oh, Betsy was just telling us that the X-men were traitors," Kitty said. "You know, because we actually went to Alcatraz to defend the scientists and rescue Jimmy. Omega, it turns out."

"How'd you escape?" Bobby asked. "I mean, I was there when Jean... y'know... So, how'd you escape?"

"I can teleport through shadows," Betsy replied.

"Ahh."

"You know," Gambit cut in then. "This has really been bothering me. I know I've seen you somewhere before, but I can't quite put my finger on it."

"Not my problem," Betsy dismissed.

"There is definitely something familiar about that combination: Japanese, English accent, purple hair," Gambit considered, then his eyes lit up and he snapped his fingers. "Paris, three years ago—"

"Oh hell you didn't sleep with her too, did you?" Rogue demanded.

"I quite assure you, I'm not into little boys..." Betsy began and then remembered what Emma had told her: "Oh right, you regressed, didn't you?"

"Oui. I'm forty next month, or alternatively, fourteen the month after," Gambit replied. "You were in a lingerie fashion show and you wore this sexy little purple number, with leg bands and this thong—"

"Yes, yes I remember," Betsy said, ignoring the interested looks that Bobby and Warren were now giving her. "You were there, I take it?"

"Do you remember Claudia?"

"How could I forget?"

"I was dating her at the time."

"...You were?" Betsy frowned. "Because I remember meeting her boyfriend and I'm quite sure I would have remembered eyes like yours. Mostly what I remember was that he had the worst French accent I'd ever heard—oh!"

Gambit laughed and Betsy shook her head.

"I'm sure that's not all you remember about me, chère," Gambit said seductively, grinning at her.

"Yes, I remember you being a lot older, and you didn't have those eyes," Betsy said pointedly.

"Ahh. Got experimented on by Stryker," Gambit explained. "When I regressed I got my original eyes back."

"Oh Stryker," Betsy said disgustedly. "Don't get me started on that arsehole. Do you know how I got stuck in this Japanese body? Because he bloody killed my original one with his bloody experiments! I was just this telepathic entity until I managed to find this body. Kwannon wasn't using it, you see. Lights were on but no one was home. Never went anywhere near that bastard again."

"So... you escaped and didn't go back to rescue any other prisoners?" Gambit asked.

"He'd already killed my brother and myself," Betsy pointed out. "I didn't see any point in going back so he could kill me a second time."

"Let me shake your hand," Gambit said excitedly, hold out his hand to her. "I did the exact same thing! Well, sort of, until Logan recruited me 'cause he didn't know where the island was and wanted to go on a killing spree. But y'know, if it weren't for that I sure wouldn't have gone back to that hellhole. Of course, Emma's been holding a grudge all these years because I didn't go back for her, but minor detail."

Betsy laughed and shook his hand.

"Remy, was it?" she asked.

"Oui. Remy LeBeau, also known as Gambit, also known as the Love Doctor," Gambit replied cheerfully.

"Here he goes again," Rogue muttered.

"I teach sex ed, and will be teaching French here."

"And they listen to you, even looking as you are?" Betsy asked curiously.

"I'm very charismatic," Gambit nodded. "Do you have a lastname to go with 'Betsy'?"

"Braddock. Elizabeth Braddock. Also known as Psylocke. I'm here to be taught, not to teach."

"Ahh. What are your powers, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Telepathy, telekinesis and teleportation through shadows."

"The three teles hein? I've bio-kinetic charging: I blow stuff up."

"I'm sure you're a hoot at parties."

"Oh you have no idea."


	19. Where Were You Keeping That?

**Chapter 18: Where Were You Keeping That?**

"So this is the danger room," Betsy said, looking around at the big, square, grey room.

"Oui," Gambit replied. "It's great fun. Of course, some of the kids wouldn't agree but they're the ones who don't appreciate hard work."

Betsy chuckled.

"Care for a match?" Gambit asked. "We can go to town with our powers in here."

"Sure, why not?"

Betsy spread her hands. In her right appeared a katana, and in her left a dagger, both glowing with purple light.

"Nice," Gambit said.

He pulled out a handful of cards and charged them up.

"Huh," Betsy said. "I see that kinetic energy has a thing for the red-blue spectrum."

"It would appear so," Gambit agreed.

Rogue watched in the control room as the two began to circle. Gambit flicked the cards at Betsy's feet. She jumped into the air upon impact, the blasts missing her, and launched herself towards Gambit. He dodged and pulled out his staff, extending it.

"Where were you keeping that?" Betsy asked, giving him an odd look.

"I could ask you the same question," Gambit replied mischievously.

Staff and blades came to blows. Sparks of red-purple light danced between them with each clash fast enough that Rogue had trouble keeping up. Gambit hit Betsy with a blow that would have disarmed her of her katana, if it hadn't been psionic. Betsy smirked at him and swept the katana through his body, the blade slicing through his clothes on either side, but not actually harming his body. The lower half of his shirt fell.

"Aww chère," Gambit said, putting a hand to his belt buckle. "If you wanted to see me naked, you should have just said so."

Betsy rolled her eyes and made the mistake of thinking Gambit was too busy being a pervert to pay any attention. She swung her leg out in front, aimed for his, but Gambit was up in the air before she could blink. His feet went up and over and landed on her shoulders, pushing her backwards. Betsy landed hard, the breath knocked out of her and Gambit straddled her and grinned.

"I like this position," he said, grinning broadly.

"I'm sure you do," Betsy replied. "I think I like it better though. See my katana? I can make it cut through anything I want and bypass anything I don't want, which is how it could pass through you without cutting anything but your clothes. I'd say I was in perfect range right about now to cut... _another_ staff of yours."

"Interesting," Gambit replied.

Betsy caught her breath sharply as she felt a tingling sensation across her body. Magenta light flickered over her workout clothes.

"I wonder which'll happen first. A bomb or the snip?" he asked.

Betsy chuckled. Simultaneously, Gambit reabsorbed his kinetic energy and let Betsy up, and Betsy dissolved her psi-blades.

"Question," Gambit said. "If you're a telekinetic, why didn't you just push me off that way? Or was your telekinetic prowess focused on the blades?"

"Blades," Betsy replied. "As I mentioned the other day, I'm here to learn."

Gambit nodded thoughtfully.

"You said you can choose, right? What your blade cut through?" Gambit asked.

"Yes."

"Don't cut through my staff. I used to be able to get a replacement any time I wanted, but now that I'm posing as my own son, I technically can't requisition one from the Guild any more. Hell, I'm technically not even supposed to have this one."

"What Guild?" Betsy asked curiously.

"Never mind," Gambit dismissed with a wave of his hand. "The point is, right now I have to consider it irreplaceable until I can find another way of either getting an indestructible one, a new source, or rejoin the Guild."

"Duly noted," she nodded as they headed out.

"Oh, and Betsy?" he added as the danger room doors opened.

"Yes?"

"Don't waste your time trying to read my mind. Only high level, highly trained telepaths like Emma can do that."

Betsy paused and stared after Gambit as he continued walking away.

* * *

It was a hot day and everyone had the same idea to congregate at the pool all at once. What started out as just a way to cool off quickly turned into a pool party. Someone got the barbecue going, and everyone was glad that the pool was as large as it was.

"Aww, chère," Gambit said as he sprung his cards from one hand to another. "No bikini?"

"Bikinis are for girls with something to flaunt," Rogue replied.

"Point taken," he teased her.

"Oh you just think you're so funny, don't you?"

"Oui."

"Speaking of which, you planning on getting changed, hot shot?" Rogue asked, looking Gambit up and down in his shirt and jeans. "Or were you going to go swimming in your clothes?"

"I hadn't decided yet. A part of me figures that getting changed would be a good idea. The other part is wondering whether I could get away with stripping off here and swimming in my underwear," Gambit joked.

"You even wear underwear?" Rogue responded dryly. "I always figured you were the commando type."

"You can pull down my pants and find out for yourself, if you want," he said with a wink.

Before Rogue could respond, something wet exploded against the back of her neck and she gave a yelp of surprise. Slowly she turned to see Bobby grinning at her like an idiot, another water bomb in his hand.

"You are so dead," she said.

Bobby laughed and threw the other water bomb at her. Rogue ducked to the side and the water bomb hit the ground, the splash only just getting her. Rogue glowered at him and made a job for him, only to get hit in the chest with another.

"Have to catch me first," Bobby grinned at her.

Bobby lifted another water bomb from his collection and was about to throw it when a magenta-lit card flew past, exploding lightly right next to it. The water bomb exploded in turn, drenching Bobby with water.

"Do you often fight unarmed opponents?" Gambit teased, lighting up another card.

"Oh this means war," Bobby joked.

Bobby picked up two bombs and threw both of them at Gambit at once. Gambit's card exploded neatly between them, breaking both bombs before they got anywhere near him.

"Gotta try harder than that, mon ami," Gambit grinned at him.

Gambit charged two more cards and Bobby lifted two more bombs. Gambit was faster and this time when the bombs exploded they both wet Bobby thoroughly. Bobby was quick on the rebound, however, and his next bomb hit Gambit's shoulder, despite his attempt to dodge.

"Hey Bobby," Rogue said.

Bobby turned around. Rogue smirked and turned the hose on him.

"Water fight!" someone yelled.

Chaos erupted. Bobby's supply of water bombs got upended, or otherwise raided. People in the pool started splashing the passers by. Rogue turned the hose on anyone she could reached, even going to far as to turn up the pressure. She took great delight in soaking the still fully-clothed Gambit from head to toe.

"Now you _have_ to get changed, Swamp Rat," Rogue taunted him.

"Oui, but not inside," Gambit said wickedly as he stalked over to her. "I'll get all the carpet wet."

"Well?" Rogue said, cocking her head to the side. "Go on then."

"You don't think I'll do it."

"No, I don't."

"Huh," Gambit said, wrapping his hand around the hose. "Shows what you know, chère."

They both had their hands on the hose and wrestled good-naturedly for control. Gambit lifted a finger over the nozzle to redirect the flow of water into her face. Rogue ducked her head, her grip loosening just enough that Gambit was able to pull it out of her hands completely. He turned the hose on her and she tried to regain a hold, but Gambit was more crafty in keeping it out of her reach. Rogue ended up pressed up against him as he held the hose above their heads, keeping the length of the hose behind him no matter what direction they turned in.

"Remy," Rogue said with false-sweetness. "You know how you keep saying that nothing physical can happen between us because you'd feel like a pedophile?"

"Actually," Gambit replied cheerfully. "I've changed my mind about that."

"Oh have you now?"

"Well, I have spent the better part of a year looking at myself in the mirror—"

"Narcissist."

"—and it's hard to think of yourself as being in your fourth decade when you realise it going to be another year or two before you can even grow facial hair."

"Point taken."

"Only with you though."

"Oh well, there goes that plan."

"What plan is that, chère?" Gambit asked as he sprayed her with water again.

"Well, I was going to threaten to tongue you if you didn't hand it over," Rogue taunted him. "But since you feel that way about it—"

"Damn. Is it too late for me to take it back?"

"Yep."

"You can't pretend I didn't say that?"

"Nope."

"Oh well. I suppose there's only one thing to do now."

"Yeah? What's that?"

In a swift motion, Gambit pulled the hose back down and aimed it down the back of her one-piece. Rogue squealed and pushed away. Gambit laughed at her.

"Why you!" she spluttered.

Rogue closed the distance again, tackling him into the pool with her. Gambit lost his grip on the hose and Jubilee was opportunistic and took over spraying people with it. Rogue and Gambit pushed to the surface of the pool.

"Hmm," Gambit said. "I think I should have stripped off first."

"And I don't think you're really the exhibitionist you pretend to be," Rogue replied with a smirk.

"That's because you've never played strip poker with me."

"Please, I've played regular poker with you. Like you'd even need to strip."

"That's because you're not a good poker player, chère. Now, at a table full of professionals like me? Then it gets interesting."

"Yeah, well, I'm calling your bluff, Remy. There's no way you're going to strip off here in front of everyone, not even down to your underwear."

"Okay, you got me," Gambit replied as he hauled himself out of the pool. "There are just too many underage kids here, chère. Wouldn't be appropriate."

"Excuses, excuses."

"Although, you do have me wondering, Roguey," he went on as he offered her his hand to help her out of the pool. "Just why it is that you're talking about tonguing me and going on about me stripping off?"

"I just think you're all talk, is all," Rogue replied, taking his hand.

"Wouldn't be because you're interested in me at all, would it?" he teased her.

Rogue's eyes narrowed and she pulled him back in the pool.

* * *

"Ororo," Hank greeted her at the front door. "So good to see you. How was your trip?"

"Quite good thank you," Storm replied cheerfully, bag in hand. "And things here? I see the mansion is still in one piece."

Hank chuckled.

"Yes, I know you were concerned about Emma and Remy, especially after Remy starting being so polite to Emma, but I assure you there hasn't been any dramatics on their part."

"I was so sure he was trying to lure everyone into a false sense of security," Storm said with a frown.

"While I expect that may still be possible," Hank conceded, "so far the only thing he's done to Emma is confuse her."

"Perhaps that's enough."

"Perhaps. On the subject of Emma, she has a new student by the name of Betsy Braddock. I understand she has quite a profitable career as a model," Hank went on to explain her abilities and why she was at the school. "You should know she was with the Omega group at Alcatraz and has expressed certain... opinions. Remy appears to be the only one aside from Emma she seems to get along with, and at that her relationship with Emma so far appears to be purely professional."

"And with Remy?"

"Common history, it seems. She is barely civil to Warren and Rogue, however, and she and Kitty are argumentative to say the least."

"Great," Storm said with a sigh. "Do you think she's going to be a problem?"

"I believe it's a little early to make a judgement call on that."

"Fair enough."

* * *

Logan arrived home a week later and got straight to business vetting the three new graduates who had expressed an interest in staying on with the X-men: Sam "Cannonball" Guthrie, Tabitha "Boom Boom" Smith and Angelica "Firestar" Jones.

By this point, Storm had finalise the classes for the following year and Rogue was relieved to find that she was no longer required to teach any of PE classes for the younger students. Logan still wanted her for the combat classes though, and Rogue wanted to continue with mechanics as well—she didn't like the idea of having to give up her hobby.

Jubilee was taking over Rogue's job in PE, Kitty was taking over the computer studies classes from Hank, Pete was starting up a small art class and Bobby had agreed to take over some of Storm's maths classes as long as it didn't interfere with his studies. Storm was hoping to capitalise on the students accepting Gambit as a teacher to see if she couldn't get them to accept the older graduates as well. If things worked out with Bobby, it would be a nice decrease of her workload. She had hoped to get Warren teaching as well, but the only commitment she could get out of him was that he would be happy to start a business studies class once he finished his own studies at business school.

* * *

"I don't know," Kitty sighed and looked at the array of shops in disgust. "What on earth do you get a guy who's 39 and 13 at the same time and about to have a birthday?"

Rogue paused in her tracks and considered.

"Well," she said. "This is Remy we're talking about here, so I'm thinking a whore."

Kitty giggled.

"I don't think Storm would approve if we hired a whore for him and brought her back to the mansion," Jubilee said with a grin.

"Probably not," Rogue replied. "Although, I think that's what Logan's getting him—"

"You're not serious!" Kitty exclaimed.

"Oh sorry, not a whore. A years subscription to Playboy."

The girls laughed.

"I swear Remy is a such a bad influence," Rogue muttered. "I never used the word 'whore' so much in a conversation before I met him."

"I know what you mean," Jubilee said. "And I don't even hang out with him as much as you do."

"Maybe we should have brought the boys along," Kitty said. "I mean, this is their present too."

"They didn't come along because for some reason they don't like shopping with us," Jubilee giggled.

"Yeah, I can't figure out why," Kitty joked.

"Say..." Rogue said slowly. "Just what is our budget for this thing?"

Kitty told her, then asked why.

"I have an idea."

* * *

"Bonjour Remy," Aimee said over the phone. "Happy birthday."

"Merci petite," Gambit replied. "How'd your Tilling go?"

"It was great! I totally kicked ass."

"Well, I hope not. I would like to think you got in and out without being seen."

"That's what I meant, silly."

"Oh my bad."

"You're weird."

"No, I'm bad. Really. Ask Rogue, she'll agree."

"I agree!" Aimee heard Rogue call in the background.

"See? She agrees," Gambit said cheerfully.

Aimee giggled.

"Is Rogue coming over for Christmas again this year?" Aimee asked.

"Hmm, I don't know. Hey, Roguey?" Gambit called, turning to look at her.

"Yeah?" Rogue replied.

"Wanna come to N'Awlins with me for Christmas again this year?"

"Yeah, sure. Not like I've got anywhere else to be."

"I love your enthusiasm."

"Is there going to be another cross-Guild party?"

"Good question," Gambit said and turned back to his phone. "Aimee? Do you—"

"I don't know. Maybe. I think Papa and Bella Donna wanted to start a tradition or something," Aimee replied, sounding a little dubious.

"Hmm," Gambit replied. "That's a maybe, Roguey."

"I should confuse Marcus by wearing something androgynous," Rogue joked.

Gambit laughed.

* * *

No doubt they thought they were being so crafty by blindfolding Gambit and whirling him around in a circle a few times, but these X-men had severely underestimated his ability to maintain his sense of direction. Thus it was that Gambit knew perfectly well that they had led him into the rec room.

What Gambit hadn't expected, however, was when they pulled the blindfold from his eyes and they fell on a poker table top fitted to one of the round tables in the room. There was a box of chips and a deck of playing cards in the middle.

"Happy Birthday!" everyone shouted.

Gambit chuckled and nodded his head, a grin crossing his face.

"Thanks," he said.

"We really wanted to get you one of those really awesomely cool, solid, wood poker tables," Rogue said. "Unfortunately, they're also really awesomely expensive and way out of the budget."

"That's fine," Gambit replied, rubbing his hands together with fiendish delight. "Hmm, does this mean people are going to play poker with me now?"

"Not if they're smart," Storm said dryly.

"Here Remy," Bobby said, patting one of the chairs next to him at the table. "Have a seat."

"Don't mind if I do."

Gambit sat down and a farting noise erupted. A cynical look appeared on Gambit's face as those around him snickered. Bobby's face in particular was alight with mirth.

"I just sat on a whoopie cushion, didn't I?" Gambit said.

"Yep!" Bobby replied gleefully.

"Mine now."

"That's okay. I have plenty more where that came from."

"I'm sure of that."

* * *

Gambit woke at 4:05am, dressed and was on his way to the gym when he realised the TV was on in the rec room. Probably the Jones kid, seeing as how he couldn't actually sleep, so he was always awake 24/7. Lucky bugger. Ever since the technopath had come to the school (although how technopathy meant he didn't need sleep, Gambit wasn't sure), staff had tried to interest him in different activities so he didn't spend all night watching TV. He was encouraged to study and take up hobbies, but he was still a kid and more often than not ended up playing video games and watching TV. He was turning into quite the television and movie buff.

Gambit stepped silently into the rec room, just in time to hear moaning and a flash of boobs on the screen. He coughed pointedly and abruptly the channel changed.

"So," Gambit said, sitting down next to the guilty-looking Jones on the lounge. "Forge rigged the set so it could get adult channels again, huh?"

"Uhh, I guess so. I was just flipping around," Jones replied with forced nonchalance.

"Sure you were," Gambit said tolerantly, pulling out his deck of cards. "You know boy, if Logan catches you watching porn, he's going to remove your ability to do anything about it."

"I wasn't watching it!" Jones panicked. "I was just flipping around!"

"Uh huh," Gambit mused, springing the cards from one hand to another. "You're in my sex ed class this year, aren't you?"

"Umm, yeah I will be."

"Okay then. Turn the TV off and ask."

"Uhh..." Jones stuttered uncertainly.

"C'mon kid, we both know you've got questions about this stuff, and as I have no particular desire to be asked about double penetrations in class, we may as well get all your porno-related questions out of the way now. Then we're going to discuss what you'll be doing with your time at night from now on."

* * *

**AN:**

Sam, Tabitha, and Angelica are comic-canon.

Jones is movie-canon.


	20. 1 Year Anniversary

**AN: **Luicida Lownes wanted me to use the word 'shenanigans'. And why not? It's a cool word, hahaha.

Just so there's no confusion, this first part is a dream/flashback.

* * *

**Chapter 19: 1 Year Anniversary**

Pain seared through his body. He felt like every part of him was on fire, like every cell in his being was being burnt down to ash and reforming again only to be burnt to ashes once more.

_"Hey."_

So intense was the pain that it took him a moment to register that it was Rogue that was speaking. He wanted to move, but he couldn't. All he could do was grip her offered hand.

_"He's awake," Rogue reported._

Others must be there. Make it go. Please, make the pain go. He couldn't take it any more.

_"Remy? How are you feeling? Hank asked "Is it burning still?"_

"Yes!" he wanted to shout. "It burns so badly. You have to make it stop! Please make it stop!"

_"Oui."_

The word scratched on his throat. That his throat was sore from all the screaming he'd done previously seemed minor in comparison.

_"Listen, your powers are coming back, but like Rogue's they're running at an accelerated rate."_

_"Make... make it stop."_

It hurt! Everything he did hurt! Breathing, moving, speaking, blinking his eyes. Even when he didn't do anything it still hurt.

_"I'm afraid there is no gas left, and I won't be able to acquire any more for another two days."_

_"We're going to get you through this," Storm said firmly. "You're going to get through this."_

_"Make it stop."_

_"M-maybe I should absorb him," Rogue said._

No!

_"Absolutely not," Logan said. "It's his powers doing this to him. They'll do the same thing to you too. And Drake's powers didn't wear off for four days."_

Four days. Rogue, no.

_"I wouldn't touch him for very long," Rogue pointed out. "If I can't let go myself, then I've got three of you there to pull me off. Besides, Hank, didn't you say my powers are no longer running as fast as they were?"_

_"Yes, but they're by no means at the level they were."_

_"I only need to touch him for a second. If we can knock him out for the weekend that'll give him some peace until you can get more gas."_

Yes! Please make this stop! More than anything, I want this to end.

_"The sedative injections won't work on you any more than it will on Gumbo," Logan said. "And it'll all be redundant if you're stuck with his powers all weekend."_

_"Rogue, forget it," he wanted to say. "He's right. If it's me or you, I choose me."_

_"What's the point of having this stupid power if I don't use it?"_

_"Rogue," Storm said patiently, then turned to Hank. "Is it possible for you to calculate how long Rogue'll have Remy's powers for?"_

Make it stop.

_"Actually, I've been working on a program to determine that exact information," Hank replied._

_"You're not seriously considering this," Logan demanded._

Burning. Endless burning.

_"Rogue knows what the risks are," Storm replied. "If she's prepared to deal with it, and the time for Rogue having Gambit's powers is within a reasonable time frame, then I don't see any reason why we should deny her request to help."_

I don't want her to help me! I don't want want her to go through this!

_"Yeah? Can he calculate how long Remy'll be comatose for? What about Drake?" Logan snapped. "Sorry, Rogue. I get that you want to help but I'm not—"_

Talk her out of it Logan. Don't let her.

_"Two months," Hank said._

_"What?"_

Hurts...

_"Based on Rogue's absorptions pre-Cure, estimated length of contact with Bobby and rate of power acceleration, Bobby will be in a coma for two months thereabouts," Hank replied calmly as he tapped away on the computer. "Now, albeit, I haven't done an exam of Rogue's power development today, but based on her progress so far... after a second of contact... Remy should be out of it for... one week and Rogue will have his powers for approximately six hours. Incidentally, Bobby's powers returned to him within a day, although exactly how long he was without them I cannot say for certain."_

_"Six hours," Logan repeated._

No.

_"Two months," Rogue breathed._

_"Rogue?" Storm inquired._

No! Open your mouth and say no!

_"Six hours is better than forty-eight," Rogue said._

No you can't, Rogue. Not for six hours.

_"Rogue—" Logan began._

Remy, you're a coward. Tell her no!

_"Logan, not even you can deny that. And heck, if he's under for a week, that's all the better. Less sedative needed, if any at all," Rogue replied firmly._

No. No. NO!

_"Wait," said Storm. "We should get a bed... and restraints ready."_

You can't.

_"Storm—" Logan began._

It hurts.

_"Lesser of two evils, Logan."_

_"This is not the lesser!"_

You can't let her.

_"Logan, I appreciate your concern, I really do," Rogue said. "And I get where you're coming from—I'm not exactly looking forward to the idea—but something needs to be done, and this is what I do. And quite frankly, I actually think I like the idea of touching someone and doing them good instead of harm for once."_

So you want to touch someone and hurt yourself more? No Rogue, you can't do this. It hurts. It hurts so much. You can't. Burning won't go away. I want it to stop. It has to stop. Not you Rogue. Please don't. Please make it stop. Say something! Open your mouth and say 'no' Remy! You can't let her... not this.

_"It's not too late," said Logan._

No.

Gambit gasped for breath and shot up in bed. Cold sweat dripped down his forehead and he panted heavily. He ran a hand over his face and through his hair. He hated that particular nightmare, especially because it was true. He stared into the dark as his breathing finally calmed down, pushed the covers back and staggered into the ensuite. No way he was getting back to sleep now.

Gambit blinked as the light came on and turned on the shower. He adjusted the temperature, stepped inside and pressed his hands against the tile wall, leaning on them. One way or another, Rogue was going to get her powers under control; he'd make sure of it. He never should have let her absorb him. He should have had the guts to tell her no, but he didn't and look what happened to her. Six hours. Six hours of _that_. Even six minutes—six _seconds_—was too long. And to top it all off, he'd screwed up her relationship with her boyfriend, messed up the rest of her social life and her plans with Logan; albeit, those would be rectified in a few years but still. She shouldn't have had to start a new identity because of him. She shouldn't have gone through any of that because of _him_.

* * *

Gambit waited for Storm's students to leave the room, then knocked on the door frame and let himself in. Storm looked up at him and smiled.

"This is a surprise," she said as she packed up the papers on the desk. "What can I do for you?"

"I was hoping you could do me a favour," Gambit replied as he sauntered over, "and keep the Wolverine occupied Sunday night."

"Why?" Storm asked, not without some suspicion in her voice. "What are you plotting?"

"Nothing bad," Gambit said, sitting down on the desk. "It's just Roguey and my's anniversary and I want to celebrate it with her without Logan getting the wrong idea."

"Why would he get the wrong idea?" Storm asked. "And for that matter, since when do you and Rogue have an anniversary?"

"Aww, chère. I can't believe you forgot. It's the anniversary of when we regressed. Okay, technically, it was a few days ago. Well...Rogue's was last Sunday and mine was is today I think...but Sunday is one year to the day when I woke up from the coma, so I figure that's a good day to celebrate," Gambit replied cheerfully. "You know, because that was the day we were _both_ conscious of the fact that we were both thirteen. Again."

Storm blinked and stared at him for a moment. Finally she let out a long breath and shook her head, her eyes glancing at the calender.

"Yes," she said slowly. "It has been a year, hasn't it? Time certainly flies."

"When you're having fun," Gambit said, grinning broadly. "No wonder it went so fast."

"Indeed. You didn't answer my question though: Why would Logan get the wrong idea?"

"I thought Roguey might appreciate a home cooked dinner out on the gazebo," Gambit said. "You can see why I might be a little concerned about Logan crashing the evening? There isn't going to be anything romantic about it. Just a couple of friends celebrating the anniversary of a mutual life-changing experience."

Storm nodded slowly.

"Okay," she agreed. "But don't get into the habit of asking me to intervene, Remy."

"Done."

"And if he finds out, I knew nothing."

"Nothing about what?"

"Good boy."

* * *

"Have fun on your date," Rogue called after Logan and Storm in the foyer.

"Yeah," Kitty agreed. "Have a great time."

"Remember not to drink and drive," Jubilee added.

Storm and Logan looked at each other, then at the gaggle of girls. The both nicely dressed up—Logan reluctantly in a suit and Storm looking stunning in a beautiful white dress.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Tabitha giggled as Logan opened the door.

"Well," said Angelica cynically to Tabitha. "That's a short list."

"Remind me again why we thought it was a good idea to publicise us dating?" Logan asked Storm.

"Because half of them already knew anyway," Storm replied tolerantly as she stepped outside.

The girls laughed amongst themselves—especially after Logan's low growl—and the door closed firmly behind the couple.

"And now that the love birds have left the building," Rogue said, "I have to get changed."

"Changed for what?" asked Kitty.

"Remy's been planning something for our anniversary," she replied as she walked up the stairs.

"You have an anniversary?"

"Ooooh!" Jubilee exclaimed gleefully. "Rogue has a date!"

"It's not a date," Rogue corrected.

"Uh huh, yeah, suuuuure."

"You know," Angelica said thoughtfully. "That might explain why Remy spent so much time in the kitchen today."

"Rogue's got a da-ate. Rogue's got a da-ate," Jubilee teased.

"What's this?" Bobby asked, stepping into the hall just in time to hear Jubilee's last word.

"Uhh... Rogue has a date?" Jubilee said to him nervously.

There was silence as everyone looked at Bobby, and Bobby looked at Rogue. Rogue rolled her eyes.

"It's not a date," Rogue said firmly, glowering at the group. "It's the anniversary of when we became thirteen again. It's perfectly normal behaviour to celebrate anniversaries."

"Yeah, like _wedding_ anniversaries," Tabitha teased her.

"Or birthdays," Rogue retorted. "y'all pathetic, you know that? Sometimes I think you're more childish than I am."

Rogue stamped the rest of the way up the stairs and down the hall to her room. What was everyone's obsession with them dating? It was really getting on her nerves!

* * *

The heels of Rogue's boots echoed on the paved pathway as she walked to the gazebo. As the gazebo came into view, Rogue could see a table, complete with table cloth, two candles, a bottle, glasses, and a couple of covered plates. Gambit was leaning over, still setting things up by the looks, when he heard her and he turned his head to smile at her.

"Bonjour chérie," he said.

"Hi sugar," Rogue replied as she walked up the three wooden stairs. "This looks—and smells—nice."

"Merci," he replied and gestured to the chair furthest away from him. "Have a seat."

"Don't mind if I do."

Gambit noted the pensive look on Rogue's face and as he sat down himself, he regarded her curiously.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

Rogue have a long sigh, her finger fidgeting with the edge of the table cloth.

"Just... rumour mongerers trying to tell me this is a date," she told him.

"Ahh. Well, more fool them. Here," and Gambit lifted up the cover from their plates.

"I do, thanks," Rogue said, smiling first at Gambit then at the food. "Ooh jambalaya."

Rogue picked up her fork and ate a bite, looking at Gambit thoughtfully while he lit the candles with the tip of his finger. She chuckled softly and he smiled at her and picked up the red wine bottle.

"Now this," he said. "Is a Shiraz."

"Oh... I thought we were going to have the Zinfandel again. That's what we had the last time we had jambalaya, isn't it?"

"Oui, but there's lots of dishes out there that go well with a few different types of wine. You know what they say, chère, variety is the spice of life," Gambit replied with a big silly grin.

Rogue groaned and shook her head. Gambit chuckled and started pouring the wine.

"There we are. One glass for you, and the rest of the bottle for me," he said, as he finished pouring his first glass and set the bottle back down.

"Thanks. By the way, did I happen to congratulate you on conning Storm on taking Logan out tonight?"

"Well, we couldn't have Logan smelling wine on you, Roguey."

"'Tis true."

"Happy anniversary."

Rogue giggled.

"Happy anniversary. I feel like we're an old married couple, saying that. May Jubes never find out I said that."

Gambit laughed.

"Never hear the end of it," Rogue muttered.

"Maybe we should put everyone out of their misery and just start dating."

"Sure, we could do that. Better yet, we could Inot/I."

"We could start a rumour that you're pregnant."

"I really don't think so."

"We could start a rumour that Stormy's pregnant."

"Do you have some kind of a death wish?"

"We could start a rumour that _Logan_ is pregnant."

Rogue giggled. "I don't think anyone would buy that one."

"Yeah? Why's that?"

"He's missing parts."

"How do you know that, chère? Have you looked?"

"Actually, yes."

Gambit just about choked on his dinner. He spent a good two minutes coughing and spluttering while Rogue calmly continued eating like nothing remiss just happened.

"You've...you've _seen_ Logan naked?" he asked incredulously, once he managed to start breathing properly again.

"Yep."

Gambit stared at her and waved his hands a bit. "When did this happen?"

"When Amara came here she was having these flare ups with her powers all the time. I mean, the girl doesn't call herself 'Magma' for no reason, y'know? So while she was having these flare ups we were keeping her away from the other students. Obviously she got the hang of it, but there was this one occasion where Logan had her in the danger room, and I was keeping an eye on things in the control room when she had one of these flare ups. Yeah, Logan ended up in the line of fire. He survived, of course, but his clothes? Not so much. I, uhh, lent him my jacket to give him some dignity until he could get some clothes. Storm's a lucky woman, by the way."

Gambit laughed.

"Mon dieu... So Amara's seen his junk too?"

"She was very embarrassed."

"You're not the slightest bit phased?"

"Well, at the time my powers were still active and most of the people I absorbed were male. I had plenty of visuals of that part of their anatomy," Rogue replied with a shrug. "But... I don't know. It's weird now because I remember seeing stuff I didn't particularly want to, but because the voices are all gone now I can't see the memories any more. Do you know what I mean?"

"Like when you see a picture, and you can remember seeing the picture, but when you go looking for it, it's not there any more?"

"Yeah."

"Heh, that's funny. I wish I'd known that story before he and Stormy started dating," Gambit said with a sigh. "So many things I could have said to taunt him about it..."

"You're just not happy unless you're annoying someone, are ya?"

"Nope. Bugging people is fun. Speaking of which, something has occurred to me."

"Yeah?"

"We're teenagers again—"

"Really? No!" Rogue exclaimed mockingly. "Damn, hide the wine, we are so busted."

"Actually, the Shiraz is Australian, and their legal drinking age is eighteen—okay I know legally we're fourteen but—I forget where I was going with that... Oh yeah, the point is, we're teenagers again but we've been awfully well-behaved teenagers this past year."

"Hmm, this is true. We haven't really gotten up to many shenanigans, have we?"

"This is something that must be remedied."

"I agree. Have anything in particular in mind?"

"Does Wolverine have claws?"

Rogue giggled and the rest of the meal was spent making evil plans, erm, planning mischievous teenage activities. After dessert, Gambit pulled a box onto the table.

"Got you something," he said as he pushed it over to her, pleased at the expression of surprise on her face.

"I... You didn't have to get me anything."

"Aww, but it's our anniversary."

"I didn't get you anything."

"No big deal. Go on, open it."

Rogue chewed her bottom lip and tentatively reached out for the box.

"Thank you," she said softly as she untied the red ribbon.

She pulled the ribbon away and lifted the lid. Inside the box was another box: a fine wooden jewellery box with—when she opened it—a dancing ballerina. Rogue giggled a little as the ballerina twirled around to the music.

"Wow," she said. "This is really beautiful, Remy. I'm not sure—"

"Oh no you don't," he cut in. "You do not get to say you can't accept it. It's a gift. I'll be most offended if you reject it."

"Uhh..." Rogue stammered and searched rapidly for an alternate ending to her sentence: "Where to put it."

"Good girl. I'm sure you'll find just the right spot. By the way, there's a secret compartment."

"Oh really?"

"There's a reward waiting for you for when you find it."

"So, you're not going to tell me where it is, huh?"

"Nope."

"Now this present makes so much more sense."

Gambit laughed and Rogue grinned at him.


	21. Is There an Occupation You Haven't Dated

**Chapter 20: Is There an Occupation You Haven't Dated?**

Rogue leaned up against the wall by the door frame while Gambit set up the fireworks in Bobby's room. Granted the floor was carpet, but Rogue was honestly amazed by just how silent Gambit could be. He didn't even make a noise opening up Bobby's balcony door. Finally, Gambit stepped back out into the hall with Rogue, a long fuse in hand. He shut the door without even a click and Rogue had to bite her bottom lip to keep from giggling. Gambit grinned at her. He touched his finger to the fuse, and backed away down the hall, into Rogue's room which was closer. Gambit closed the door after them.

They waited. Gambit held up his fingers and began lowering them one by one. As soon as the last finger fell:

Fwoosh! Crackle! Bang! Squeal!

"Ahh!"

The hall was soon full with everyone in hearing distance—including Rogue and Gambit—who came out of their rooms to investigated what on earth had happened.

"Bobby? What's going on?" asked Pete, Bobby's next door neighbour.

"Someone let fireworks loose in my room!" Bobby exploded. "And now look! I've got ice everywhere."

Bobby put his hands on his head in frustration and looked at the multiple blocks of ice in his room.

"That's why you have the water proofing, hun," Kitty said with a yawn. "You know, for when you freeze stuff in there."

"Yes, but you're missing the point! Fireworks! In my room!"

"Well don't look at me," Jubilee said. "I can make my own fireworks. I don't need actual fireworks."

"No one's blaming you," Logan said with a dire look in Gambit's direction. "Isn't that right, Squeaky?"

"I didn't hear anyone blame you," Gambit agreed, looking at Bobby.

"Where are the rest of your fireworks?" Logan demanded.

"It was you?" Bobby asked, staring at Gambit.

"I don't have any," Gambit replied cheerfully, knowing perfectly well the rest of the fireworks were secreted in Rogue's room. "Go on, search my room. Be my guest."

"Squeaky, I know it was you," Logan said. "Your scent's in Bobby's room. So unless you and Bobby were in the habit of having a little midnight tryst..."

"Ahh, you've cottoned onto my little secret," Gambit replied dramatically and turned to Bobby with his hands outstretched. "It's true, Bobby. I have feelings for you. I've been sneaking into your room at night and watching you sleep. It turns me on."

Bobby didn't say anything for a moment, then finally pointed his finger and said: "You'd better be joking, because otherwise you're really freaking me out right about now."

* * *

The mansion was unusually devoid of estrogen after Storm, Kitty, Jubilee, Tabitha, Angelica and Rogue took all of the female students out for a bra fitting. This particular expedition involved the school bus and a specialty bra store called up in advance so they could arrange extra staff. The only girls still at the mansion were those who were barely aware of being mutants, let alone developing breast and Betsy had been unwillingly put in charge of them—specifically for the purpose of talking to them about periods and making sure they knew where the feminine hygiene products were and how to use them when the time came.

Suffice to say there was a large male population in the rec room, and a surprising number of them were watching a fashion show on TV.

"Why are you watching a fashion show?" Logan asked as he approached the group.

"Oooh! Was that a nipple?" Rictor exclaimed.

"Does that answer your question, mon ami?" Gambit inquired, glancing up at Logan from where he sat on the arm of the lounge.

Logan muttered something about soft-core porn.

"Hey, I know her," Gambit said abruptly. "That's Paula."

"Another ex-girlfriend of yours?"

"Oui. Ooh I know her too."

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Logan asked. "Watching a fashion show with you is likely to turn into a game of 'pick who Squeaky has slept with'."

"Have you had sex with a lot of models?" asked Cypher.

"Oui," Gambit replied tolerantly.

"How many?"

"He's lost count," Logan put in before Gambit could answer.

"Whoa cool."

"That's not cool," Gambit corrected. "That just makes me a man-slut."

Snickering followed that comment.

"Seriously, mes amis," Gambit went on. "A few years back, an ex-girlfriend called me up and said she'd been infected with HIV. I got a test and it came out clean but, if it had been positive? It had been two years since I last slept with her. I couldn't even guess how many women I may have potentially infected in that time, let alone been able to contact them all and advise them to get tested. Quite frankly, trying to contact anyone I had a one night stand with would have been a lost cause all by itself, and what about them? What if they had contracted it too and didn't know? How many people could they have infected before they found out? You can go _years_ without seeing any symptoms of HIV. I took to getting tested regularly after that and if any of you are going to try the womaniser lifestyle, you'll do the same and you'll make sure you know how to contact your lovers from that period in case the worst should happen."

Logan broke the silence that followed with a smart remark: "You're actually exchanging names now, Squeaky? That's a surprise."

"Not all of us are immune to disease like you are, Logan. Besides, I've taken a preference to relationships over one nights stands. They're more fun—well, depending on the femme—and less likely to blur into nameless faces."

"I'm surprised that worries you."

"I've been one night standing for two decades, mon ami. It gets boring after awhile. I'm surprised you didn't realise that yourself. Or maybe it's just because you have such a huge gap in your memory it doesn't mean anything to you," Gambit paused and hesitated, well aware of the audience paying very close attention to their conversation, and finally added what he'd been thinking for years but never before admitted aloud: "Besides, I've tasted love once or twice over the years. I'd give up sleeping around in an instant if I could just have the real thing."

* * *

A few days later, Rogue and Gambit were having a massage session before one of their many movie nights. Logan often grumbled about how he didn't like Rogue being in his room for so long, and he didn't see why they couldn't invite other people to their movie nights. Still on his many patrols past Gambit's room on such nights, he never noticed any unusually high hormone levels and Rogue always told him when they were going to have an all-night marathon, otherwise she was always back in her own room by midnight. So Logan tried not to worry _too_ much.

Gambit sat on the edge of the bed with his back turned to Rogue while she removed her shirt and made herself comfortable for her massage.

"Okay," Rogue said.

Gambit turned around, and grinned with a snicker as his eyes fell on the back of her bra.

"What?" Rogue asked.

"This one's new, chère," he teased her. "I like the strawberries."

"Keep your comments to yourself and get to work, Swamp Rat."

Gambit chuckled and ran his finger down her spine, leaned over and unclipped the back of her bra—with his teeth. Rogue's eyes went wide at the unfamiliar sensation.

"What did you just do?" she asked frantically.

"I undid your bra chère," Gambit replied nonchalantly as he began giving her the massage.

"That much I figured."

"With my teeth."

"... Why?"

"Just to see if I still could. Besides, those strawberries looked mighty tempting."

"They're not edible, stupid."

"Hmm, I thought they tasted funny."

Rogue giggled.

"You often in the habit of removing clothing with your mouth?" she asked after a couple of minutes.

"Why? Interested?"

"Oh hell, can't I just a simple question without you taking it as offer? Sheesh."

"Désolé, ma chère, I couldn't help myself."

"Evidently," Rogue said disgustedly.

Gambit chuckled.

"Oui," he answered her. "Bras, zippers and some buttons."

"Buttons?"

"I like button-up blouses and bras that hook up from the front," Gambit said wickedly.

"I just don't even want to know," Rogue sighed. "I'm sorry I asked, actually."

"Look! No hands!" he joked.

Rogue snickered despite herself.

"And then," Gambit went on merrily. "There's always edible undies."

"...I did not just hear you say that."

"Not really my thing, but there were a couple—"

"Don't want to know. _Really_ don't want to know!"

"You're the one who asked about me taking off clothes with my mouth, chère."

"Yeah _taking_ off, not _eating_ off. Eww. That's just gross."

"I can't wait to meet your future husband," he teased her. "I'm going to put so many naughty ideas in his head."

"It takes two to tango," Rogue retorted hotly.

"You know," Gambit said thoughtfully. "I never did learn how to tango, although personally, I think the rumba is sexier. You and I should take dancing lessons."

"Don't I have enough to do?"

"Aww, it'll be fun. And we can tell everyone it's part of your therapy."

"How is it part of my therapy?"

"Touching," Gambit replied simply.

Rogue was silent for a long moment.

"You know," she said softly. "I always wanted to learn."

"Great. I'll organise the lessons and you can talk to Emma and see if she can't lighten some of your other therapy sessions or exchange it or something."

"Okay. Sounds like a plan."

There was a companionable silence for a moment, then Gambit said: "I dated a ballroom dancer once. She taught me to mambo."

"Is there an occupation you haven't dated?" Rogue asked disgustedly.

"Gigolo."

* * *

Gambit looked up from his desk at the knock on his door. Fourteen-going-on-fifteen year old, Monet St. Croix, one of the few students who could afford her own wardrobe—her father was an ambassador or something—was leaning against the door frame in a seductive pose she probably picked up from a movie.

"Bonjour Monet," he said. "What can I do for you?"

"Actually," Monet replied, stepping inside the classroom and tucking a lock of black hair behind her ear. "I was wondering if maybe you'd go out with me sometime?"

"Uhh... Monet," Gambit said awkwardly. "I'm your French teacher."

"I know."

"I'm not allowed to date students."

"So, I'll drop the class," Monet dismissed as she sauntered over. "Then you won't be my teacher any more."

"Well, that's sneaky I'll grant you, but I'm still going to have to say no, petite," Gambit said firmly and ignored the way her dark brown eyes narrowed and glared at him at that last word. "Doesn't change the fact I'm still a quarter of a century older than you."

"That doesn't bother me," Monet replied confidently.

"It bothers me."

"It's just a number. We look the same age. In fact, legally we are the same age—"

"It doesn't matter what spin you put on it, petite," Gambit interrupted. "Je suis désolé, but I'm not interested. Kudos for working up the nerve to ask me, though. I know that can be a difficult thing to do."

Monet pressed her lips together tightly in what Gambit recognised as a determined attempt not to cry.

"You're too young for an experienced boyfriend anyway," he added softly. "You should find someone you can share new experiences with, instead of being taken along for a ride. Now, I'm afraid I really have to get back to work. I'll see you in class tomorrow."

Gambit looked back down at the desk, allowing Monet the ability to leave without him seeing her cry. As soon as he heard her leave, Gambit picked up his phone and dialled.

"Remy? I'm kinda busy at the moment," Rogue said, panting a little when she picked up the call.

"Désolé, ma chère," Gambit replied quietly. "I need you to do me a favour when you have a moment, find Monet and make sure she's okay."

"Why? What happened?"

Gambit coughed a little.

"Uhh," he said uncomfortably. "She asked me out."

There was silence on the other end.

"Roguey?" Gambit queried.

"She asked you out?" Rogue repeated, a mix of amusement and disbelief in her voice.

"Oui and she looked upset after I rejected her. As most people would. I'm not really sure if I handled it the best way, but then I'm not in the habit of rejecting underage girls."

"Or any woman for that matter, I'd imagine," she teased him.

"Rogue—"

"Yeah yeah, I'll check in on her."

"Merci."

* * *

At first when Rogue found Monet she thought things were okay, that Monet had found some solace in her classmates. However, when she approached close enough to overhear the conversation—and the laughter—Rogue realised quite the opposite was happening.

"I told you so," Amara said smugly.

"Shut up, Amara," Monet snapped.

"There you were, gloating about how you were going to snag Gambit and he turned you down flat. Sucked in."

"Tell me," Rogue interrupted. "How many of you have ever asked a boy out before?"

Silence followed as the group—bar Monet—looked up guiltily.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Now, unless you have something constructive to say, I'd suggest you leave."

The silence continued as the girls stood and walked away. Monet still had her head down as Rogue sat down next to her.

"Are the rumours true?" Monet asked bitterly once they were gone. "That you and Gambit are—"

"No, and I'm getting a little tired of hearing them," Rogue replied firmly. "Look, Monet, you did a very brave thing today."

Monet snorted.

"No, you did. Seriously. I've never had the guts to ask a guy out before," Rogue said. "Look sugar, rejection happens. At least now you know, and you can move on."

"But... but I don't _want_ to. I really like him, Rogue. I only joined his class so I could be with him. I already know French."

"Very crafty," Rogue replied.

"We would have been perfect together," Monet said with a mournful sigh.

Rogue fought very, very hard to keep the smile from her face, and hoped she was nothing like this when she was that age—the first time.

"Come on," Rogue said, standing up once she felt she could trust her voice not to give away her amusement. "Do you like ice cream?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, good thing for you, I'm a teacher, so I can raid the ice cream whenever I want. Ice cream is the tried and true way us girls deal with this kinda stuff."

Monet giggled and followed Rogue to the kitchen.

* * *

Gambit opted to skip dinner in the dining hall that night, so it wasn't until later that evening that Rogue finally located him in the kitchen with Logan, Storm and beer. A big, silly grin plastered itself on her face as she practically skipped over to Gambit, her hands clasped behind her back. Gambit looked up, noted the gleeful expression on her face, groaned and took another swig of his beer as he looked away.

"Hi lover-boy," Rogue said cheerfully.

Gambit leaned on his elbows and rubbed the bridge of his nose, looking down at the bench.

"Did I make a mistake in asking you?" he asked.

"Asking her what?" Logan asked suspiciously.

"I only joined his class so that I could be with him," Rogue quoted, putting on a love-struck girly voice and batting her eyelids. "We would have been perfect together."

"What's this?" asked Storm.

"Monet asked Remy out," Rogue said delightedly. "Because he's all so cute and dreamy."

"She did what now?" Logan practically growled.

"Oh, he turned her down of course," Rogue said, still grinning from ear to ear as she pulled up a stool. "And she was just so heart-broken about it too. Okay, I know I probably shouldn't be laughing about it, but the way she carried on like it was the end of the world she got rejected and... I really hope I was never like that as a kid, geez. By the way Storm, Monet may decide to drop French."

"Ahh," Storm said. "Thanks for the notice."

"Okay, Squeaky—" Logan began.

"You know, mon ami, my voice has been settled for a while now," Gambit interrupted.

"—What did you do to Monet?"

"I turned her down?" Gambit replied, looking at Logan curiously.

"No, what did you do to make her think that asking you out was a good idea?"

"Nothing! What, you think I have control over my sexual magnetism? Désolé, M'sieur Claws, but I didn't intentionally do anything to Monet to attract her...interest."

"Logan, students have been getting crushes on their teachers for as long as there have been teachers," Storm pointed out calmly. "Isn't that right, Rogue?"

"Absolutely," Rogue said batting her eyelids at Logan. "I used to have a crush on you."

"Not the same thing," Logan grumbled. "I never led you on and made you think anything was possible."

"I never led Monet on," Gambit said firmly, glaring at Logan. "You think we'd even be having this conversation if I had?"

"How is Monet, anyway?" asked Storm.

"Oh she'll be fine," Rogue replied merrily. "Upset at being rejected, and getting teased by her friends didn't help—apparently she'd made the mistake of bragging that she was going to go out with Remy before she even asked him—but she'll get over it."

"Well, there's confidence for you," Storm said wryly.

"Yeah," Rogue grinned. "Okay, I'm sorry, but I have to do this just once: Remy and Monet sitting in a tree. N—"

"Rogue!" Gambit objected.

Logan snickered and Rogue beamed at Gambit.

"You don't like my little song, lover-boy?" she asked innocently.

Gambit gave her a long look, then a smile quirked at his lips.

"Actually," he said slyly. "I like mine better: Rogue and Logan sitting in a tree. F U C—"

"Hey!" Rogue objected, clamping her hand over his mouth.

Logan growled and Storm rolled her eyes with a sigh. Gambit smirked at Rogue with his eyes and then licked her hand with as much saliva as he could muster.

"Eww!" Rogue objected, removing her hand and wiping it on Gambit's shoulder. "You're disgusting."

"Aww, you wound me chère."

"I'll do more than wound you in a minute."

"Oooh, promise? Will you spank me too?"

"If you want a spanking, Squeaky," Logan said dangerously. "I'd be happy to give you one. You wouldn't believe how heavy all that adamanitum makes my hand."

"Really, Logan? Wow, I had no idea you felt that way," Gambit replied. "Hey, Stormy, did you know Logan batted for both teams? You know, if you're lucky you might be able to get a threesome out of this. Not with me though. I don't do guys. But y'know, if you and Emma ever wanted to have a bit of fun... Or maybe you and Betsy. I'd do Betsy."

"Ha, you've probably found some modelling pictures of her and jacked off to them already," Logan said. "How have you and your hand gotten acquainted this past year? I bet your _relationship_ is _stronger_ than it's ever been."

"Actually," Gambit said, smirking slyly at Rogue. "I have a photo of Rogue in a very tiny little bikini that works pretty well."

The look of sheer horror on Rogue's face was worth every bruise Logan's admantium-boned hand left on his behind.

* * *

**AN: **Just so no one makes the mistake of taking Remy at his word, no he doesn't really do that. He was just after a reaction.

Monet and Rictor are comic-canon.


	22. Marcus, Sarah and a Bottle of Bourbon

**Chapter 21: Marcus, Sarah and a Bottle of Bourbon**

Jean-Luc and Aimee were waiting at the train station when Gambit and Rogue arrived. The four sat in the back while Jean-Luc's personal chauffeur drove them to the Guild Headquarters.

"So, how's things been here?" asked Gambit after they'd caught them up on their end.

"Marcus Boudreaux passed his mastery," Jean-Luc replied grimly. "He's been petitioning every since to gain his 'inhertience' as Patriarch of the Guild on his eighteenth birthday next year, and he has the support of his father's friends. Bella Donna is not going to stand down and the Assassins are on the brink of civil war."

"Oh joy, oh happy day," Gambit said sarcastically. "You know, Père, I was actually inquiring about the family, not Guild politics."

Jean-Luc eyed his son, then gave a long-suffering sigh.

"Of course," he said finally. "We are all well, but it's hard to ignore politics when so much hangs in the balance. We can't interfere, but the future of our Guild depends so much on how this war turns out. You know Marcus would like to see the streets of N'Awlins run thick with the blood of Thieves."

"Like father, like son."

"Indeed."

"Combined party again this year?"

"Oui."

"Rogue, in all seriousness, you don't have to come to the party if you don't want to," Gambit said.

"Is that your way of saying you don't want me to be there?" Rogue asked.

"Not at all. I wouldn't have invited you here at all if that were the case. I just don't want you to feel like you have to come if you're worried about Marcus giving you trouble."

"I'll leave it up to you. I'm not technically a member of either Guild, and I wouldn't want to cause trouble for anyone."

"After last year, I'm not worried about that," Jean-Luc told her. "Besides, if Marcus is smart—and granted, this is debatable—given his current position, I believe it's unlikely he'll approach either of you. He needs to win over Bella Donna's supporters and anyone who's on the fence. While I have no doubt that he would love to get into a fight, Remy will have to go to him, not the other way around."

"And I plan on avoiding him like he's carrying the plague," Gambit said.

* * *

Henri sat in the centre of the main table at the combined Guild Christmas party. To his left was Mercy and to his right, Bella Donna. Sebastien was next to his mother, and Aimee reluctantly sat next to him. Marcus, whose sour face unnervingly reminded Henri of Julien, sat between his aunt and his cousin, Mignonette. Everyone would have been getting along fine, if it hadn't been for Marcus, who had discovered that the best way to get on everyone's nerves was to bait Sebastien.

"Seb, why don't you go check in on your grandpère," Henri said as soon as it was polite to do so.

Sebastien pursed his lips, shot a glare at Marcus who was smirking spitefully at him, and gave a reluctant nod.

"Oui Père," Sebastien said as he stood up.

Marcus chuckled wickedly as Sebastien left the table.

"Well, now that the entertainment has left the table," Marcus said snidely. "I'm going to find some better company. Preferably with tits and pink hair."

There was a tense silence as Marcus departed.

"It's Remy and Julien all over again," Henry shook his head with a sigh.

"Indeed," Bella Donna agreed grimly.

"Marcus wasn't talking about Sarah, was he?" Mercy asked cautiously.

"Of course he was, Mercy," Bella Donna replied. "He seemed to think that the deal Julien had with the Whores Guild was part of his inheritance. Sarah wanted out, of course, but after Marcus decided to force the issue by murdering three of their members, she's back at the Mansion again."

"Poor thing."

"I know."

"Marcus is an asswipe," Aimee declared.

"Aimee!" Mercy exclaimed.

"So's your brother," Mignonette retorted.

"Yeah? He probably caught it off your cousin," Aimee snapped back at her.

Mignonette burst out laughing.

"Gee I hope not," Mignonette said with a grin. "That would mean asswipeyness is infectious, and we've been exposed."

"Hopefully only boys can catch it," Aimee giggled.

"Catch it?" Bella Donna said with a slight smile. "Filles, it's not an infection, it's a genetic trait. Anyone with a Y-chromosome has it. Marcus and Sebastien, Remy and Julien."

"Henri," Mercy added with a wink at her husband.

Henri sighed and looked around the table.

"There's way too much estrogen over here," he said resignedly.

* * *

At the same time, Jean-Luc sent Gambit off to fetch him a drink. When Sebastien arrived at his side a minute later, Jean-Luc wished he'd waited—especially as he'd seen Marcus leave the table as well.

"Well," said Sebastien, "if I can't get you anything, Grandpère, then would you perhaps like to dance with me Rogue?"

"Actually, no, I wouldn't like to," Rogue replied. "But since you asked so politely, I will anyway."

Jean-Luc smiled in amusement as Rogue walked with Sebastien out onto the floor. The two had very little to do with each other, partly because Sebastien was still working in the kitchens, and partly because Gambit chose to steer Rogue clear of his nephew's company.

Rogue and Sebastien hadn't been on the dance floor for very long, when Marcus and a pink-haired woman probably in her late twenties came sailing past. Sarah had a cold expression on her face, and although her dancing was technically correct, it was clear she had no desire to be in the arms of the younger man, even going so far as to look past him all the time.

"Wassa matta, LeBeau?" Marcus sneered. "Can't get a real woman? Oh wait, my bad. White-streak's the man, and _you're_ the woman."

Sebastien opened his mouth to retort, but instead only the word 'ow' came out. Marcus snickered and he and Sarah danced off while Sebastian glared at Rogue for treading on his foot.

"What you do that for?"

"Oops my bad," Rogue said dryly. "Must have missed my footing."

"You did it on purpose," he hissed at her.

"No duh. You realise that by responding to his taunts, you're giving him just what he wants, right?"

"Funny, I want it too."

"No, no you don't," Rogue said coldly. "If you give him what he wants, he wins. What you really want is for him to lose, and you go about that by acting the better man. Just ignore him."

"And what? And he'll go away? That's a load of crock. He'll just keep coming back."

"Maybe he will, maybe he won't. Bullies always go after the easy targets—but you should already know that," Rogue ignored the nasty scowl Sebastien shot at her and continued: "Just remember, if he wins, you die. If that's not enough incentive to keep your mouth shut, I don't know what is."

"What would you know about it?" Sebastien sneered at her. "You only come here once a year. You're not a member of any Guild."

"Bullies are bullies, no matter what the stakes are."

"You're not the boss of me either."

"And if you want to continue dancing with me, you'll do as I say, or I'll stomp on your foot again."

"Look who's the bully now."

"Sugar, this isn't bullying. This is me putting up with your antics."

From the side, Gambit watched the dancers with a frown on his face.

"I can't believe that little thug had the audacity to ask Rogue to dance," Gambit muttered. "What's Sarah doing with Marcus?"

"I'm not sure," Jean-Luc replied.

"She's not supposed to be here. She's supposed to be free."

"I couldn't agree more. Nevertheless—"

"And Marcus isn't even of age to purchase services from the Whores Guild," Gambit glowered and started to stand and march over there when Jean-Luc put his hand on his shoulder.

"You cannot interfere, Remy," Jean-Luc said fiercely. "What happens between the Assassins and the Whores Guilds is none of your concern. _Especially_ as you're the Second, not the First."

Gambit clenched his jaw and pressed his lips tightly together. His hands clenched and he reluctantly sat down again.

"You don't know her," Jean-Luc went on. "You've never met Sarah before in your life. You certainly don't know about the arrangement she had with Julien. As far as you know, the pink-haired woman Marcus is dancing with is his girlfriend. That's all."

Gambit opened his mouth to reply, but stopped when Rogue and Sebastien returned.

"You ready to go, chère?" Gambit asked.

"Oh uhh, yeah..." Rogue replied, blinking at him in surprise.

"Remy—" Jean-Luc began.

"No, Père," Gambit answered, shaking his head. "If I stay, I'm just going to get angrier and angrier and then I will do something we'll regret. If only one good thing could have come out of Julien's death, then Sarah should have been free."

Jean-Luc sighed and nodded.

"Very well," he said.

* * *

"Who's Sarah?" Rogue asked.

They were back at the LeBeau quarters of the Guild Hall, and Gambit was busy raiding the mahogany bar for a bottle of bourbon.

"Sarah is a mutant with regenerative powers, like Logan," Gambit replied. "She's also capable of growing bones right out of her skin for whatever purpose she wants to use them for. Spiked weapons, for example, but it's the healing factor that's the issue."

"What issue?"

Gambit sighed, took a swig of the bourbon and sat down heavily.

"Julien and I both slept around. It was one of the few things we had in common. Thing is though—despite what certain people might say—I'm actually respectful of women. I like to give them a good time and make sure they get off too. If they change their mind, I back off. Julien was the complete opposite. He only cared about what he wanted. He was violent to the point of hospitalising, even killing the women he was with. Which was a major problem for the Whores Guild."

Rogue waited patiently while Gambit drank again, not looking at her.

"You see, when the Whores Guild has problems with violent customers like that, they usually end up calling in either us to help get them arrested, or the Assassins Guild to kill them. But Julien was the _Patriarch_ of the Assassins Guild. There was no way that the Whores were going to be able to hire the Assassins to assassinate their own leader, any more than we could arrange his arrest—and for it to stick—without endangering ourselves. You can imagine the position the Whores were in, especially at the rate Julien was going through their members. They got smart once: had one of their girls deliberately get herself pregnant to Julien in the hopes that they might get some control back. They went through Bella Donna though. Bella Donna was their one ally in the Assassins Guild, although at the time there wasn't really a whole lot she could do. The plan worked out pretty well in the beginning: until Julien found out his son's mother was drugging him. She didn't survive the next time he took her to bed."

Rogue winced and scrubbed her hands together.

"Things got really nasty after that too. He was going through the women at an obscene rate, just out of spite. Then Sarah came along. She _volunteered_ to take the place as Julien's personal whore. He could be as violent as he wanted with her and she wouldn't die, and the Whores Guild could actually function again without fearing for their lives. Unless of course, Sarah ever decided to kill Julien, in which case the Assassins would slaughter the Whores. _Merde_," Gambit swore as he drank more bourbon. "What she doing with Marcus? You have no idea, Rogue. You have no idea the kind of things Julien put Sarah through. Hell, I don't even know anything beyond what I saw him do to her in public and that was quite enough. He'd abused that poor fille for years and there wasn't a damned thing I could do about it."

"Wow. That's umm, that's pretty heavy. Is she the pink-haired girl Marcus was dancing with?"

"Oui," Gambit replied grimly, staring straight ahead.

"Are... were you very close?" Rogue asked tentatively.

"Barely know each other. He abused her. That's all I needed to know," Gambit said sourly, his fist tightening around the bottle. "And if that petit brat fils of his has harmed a single hair on her head, I'll—"

Rogue's eyes widened as Gambit rattled off something in French that she didn't entirely understand, but after hearing the words 'merde' and 'carcasse' she wasn't sure she wanted to. Gambit finished his rant, drank some more bourbon and the conversation dissolved into silence. Rogue sat on the antique lounge nervously, her fingers lacing and unlacing.

"Je suis désolé," Gambit said finally, turning his head to look at her. "You didn't need to hear all that."

"It's okay," Rogue said quickly, meeting his eyes. "You care about what happens to her, and I imagine it was quite a shock to see her with Marcus today when you thought that part of her life was over."

"The sooner Bella Donna gets full control over the Guild the better," he said fiercely. "There is no way she would ever condone her underage nephew using a whore in any capacity, and she sure as hell won't condone him abusing any woman when he is of age. She never condoned Julien's behaviour either, although there was never very much she could do about it. Wasn't for lack of trying though. I swear, all the Boudreaux men are a bunch of scumwads. May the Assassins Guild be passed down through the women for a few generations—maybe they'll breed it out."

"We can only hope," Rogue nodded.

Gambit regarded her for a long moment, then cracked a smile and shook his head.

"And there I go ranting again," he said ruefully.

"It's fine, really," Rogue insisted, putting her hand on his shoulder and squeezing lightly. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Nah, I think I'm just going to polish off this bottle and brood for awhile. If I'm lucky I might even get a buzz," Gambit said, looking at the bottle thoughtfully. "Want some?"

"Pass," Rogue said, bemused. "I'm not entirely certain how you managed to talk me into having a glass of wine every three months, but that's as far as it's going until I'm _physically_ twenty-one."

"All the more for me then."

* * *

It occurred to Rogue later when she was holding Gambit's head over his ensuite toilet that he may have over-estimated the effectiveness of his mutation-enhanced metabolism in his fourteen year old body. Maybe adult-Gambit could drink almost an entire bottle of bourbon and only risk getting a buzz, but teenager-Gambit sure couldn't. She held his head up and his hair out of the way while he vomited his guts out.

Eventually the vomiting ceased and Rogue helped him up only to discover that there was vomit on his shirt and he was incapable of standing. Rogue had to remove his shirt for him (which she was rather surprised she was able to do without some perverted comment from him) and washed the vomit off under the tap. She helped him was the taste out of his mouth too and finally escorted him to bed.

"Not right," he muttered. "Not right at all."

"Yeah, I know," Rogue said, carefully sitting him down on the edge of the bed. "You were so sure you could hold your liquor. I could be wrong, sugar, but I'm pretty sure a bottle of bourbon has a higher alcohol content than wine."

"Not supposssssed to be helping me," Gambit insisted as he swayed back and forth. "'M supposssssed to be helping you."

Rogue snickered and started undoing his boots and pulling them off.

"You can't even walk without your legs collapsing underneath you right now, Swamp Rat," she said. "Oh, and by the way? You have bad foot odour."

"I'm resssponsssible for you," Gambit insisted, frowning deeply. "Not the other way around."

"Now that's a crazy idea if I ever heard one," Rogue replied, hauling off the second boot.

"Never wanted you to absorb me. Never. Wanted to say no, but it hurt so much," Gambit said with a noise that was somewhere between a sob and a whimper. "I was a coward and you paid for it. I ruined your life. Je suis désolé, ma chère. Je suis désolé ainsi."

"That's an even crazier idea," Rogue replied as she stood up and placed her hands firmly on his shoulders. "For starters, you're not a coward—"

"I heard everything, chère! I heard everything everyone was saying 'cause concentrating on you helped to distract me from—mon dieu, it _hurt_," Gambit said, leaning forward and resting his head on her shoulder. "It hurt so bad and I just wanted it to end but I didn't want you to take it. I didn't want you to—"

Gambit cut himself off and began to cry, his arms wrapped tightly around her. Rogue stood there, feeling a little uncomfortable and awkwardly patted his back.

"Well, umm, you're still being silly," Rogue said. "Wouldn't have mattered if you had spoken up or not, I still would have done it, ya hear? You know just how stubborn I can be, and I'll have you know that your regression didn't stop until Tuesday. Hank didn't get any more gas until _Wednesday_. You would have felt the entire thing. So maybe you felt like a coward for not speaking up, but I would have felt like a worse one for not absorbing you, Remy. Six hours is much better than three days."

"Gonna look after you," Gambit said as if she hadn't said a thing, and sniffling into her shoulder. "Gonna take care of your and protect you and make sure no one ever hurts you, ever, ever, ever. And 'M gonna make sure you get your powers under control when they come back too. And—"

"Okay Remy," Rogue said, pushing him down on the bed. "You're clearly in no state for rational conversation. Why don't you lie down and have a good nights sleep, hmm? I'll see you in the morning."

* * *

**AN: **

"Je suis desole, ma chere. Je suis desole ainsi." - "I'm sorry, my darling. I'm so sorry."

I wasn't planning on having Remy get drunk at all, but when I started writing this chapter it seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up.

Sarah, aka Marrow, is from comic-canon (although her role is obviously a lot different from what it was in the comics, ha!)

I picked up the Whores Guild idea from another fanfic called "Xanadu" by Alara, which had a Whores Union. "Xanadu" is awesome, by the way. It made sense to me that if there were Thief and Assassin Guilds, why not Guilds for other less than reputable activities?

Finally, I know lots of you are getting impatient for them to hook up. All I'm going to say is this: Remy has to start growing facial hair sometime.


	23. Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?

**Chapter 22: Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?**

Gambit woke up, feeling like someone had dumped a load of bricks on his head. Mustn't have had enough water when he went drinking last night. He frowned to himself: he hadn't drunk that much had he? Hmm. He rubbed his head in an effort to remember. Let's see... telling Rogue about Sarah, exchanging bad jokes with Rogue, throwing up... esh maybe he did drink more than he thought. Last time he'd been that drunk had been quite some years ago when he indulged in that drinking competition with Logan—one of the few people he knew who could out-drink him. With an involuntary groan, Gambit turned over and then frowned as his eyes fell on the back of another body in his bed. His eyes caught the white streak in her hair.

"Roguey?" he asked softly.

Rogue rolled over to look at him. Her long hair was draped everywhere and she gave him an amused, sleepy smile.

"Morning," she said.

Gambit licked his lips. Why was Rogue in his bed? There was only one reason why he ever woke up with a woman in his bed and...

"Did..." he said nervously. "Did, uhh, we sleep together?"

"Yep," Rogue replied, an odd little smile crossing her lips. "All night long."

"Merde," Gambit said, closing his eyes and rubbing them. "Désolé, ma chère, I don't remember."

"Well, that's probably a good thing. They say that if you can remember how you slept, then you probably didn't sleep very well at all."

There was silence while Gambit contemplated this, then he opened one eye and looked at Rogue's smirking face.

"Did we have sex last night, I mean?"

"Nope."

"Smart ass."

"I'll take my smart ass over your vomit breath any day."

"Okay," Gambit said, opening both of his eyes again. "If we didn't sle- have sex, why _are_ you in my bed?"

"Because you wouldn't let me leave."

"I wouldn't?"

"Nope. You kept holding me and crying. Apparently you're a depressed-drunk. Go figure."

"Huh," Gambit said, frowning slightly, trying to piece together more of last night. Actually now that she mentioned it, he did remember refusing to let her go, crying, telling her he wouldn't let anyone hurt her, Rogue undressing him and telling him she wouldn't have listened to him if he had told her not to absorb him—Oh crud, he didn't tell her about that did he?

"What was I upset about?" he asked, trying not to sound nervous and hoping his memory was faulty.

Rogue sighed and the amused expression on her face shifted to seriousness.

"You said you felt responsible for me," she said quietly.

Gambit swore under his breath.

"You called yourself a coward for not telling me not to absorb you," Rogue went on, her voice starting to get thick as if she was fighting off the urge to cry herself. "You wanted to look after me—not the other way around. You said you wanted to protect me and I... Dammit Remy! I don't want you to feel obligated to me. It wouldn't have mattered if you had spoken up or not, I still would have absorbed you—"

"You didn't deserve that, Rogue," Gambit interrupted fiercely. "Six _seconds_ was too long. I didn't deserve your charity and you—"

"Oh so you're taking to quoting Emma now?" Rogue snapped. "This isn't about what anyone deserved. It was the right thing to do. I stand by my decision and the only time I've ever really regretted it was when Bobby broke up with me, and even then, that was only for a second."

"Rogue—"

"You listen here, Remy LeBeau. I want to be your friend, not your _responsibility_," Rogue practically spat. "I thought that's what we were. I don't want you being in my life if you're only here because you think you have to be."

Gambit cupped her face in his hands, rendering Rogue silent, and looked into her eyes.

"We are friends," he said firmly. "But I can't not feel responsible for you, chère. Don't you understand? As things turned out, I never really needed to go to the X-men. I could have stayed here in N'Awlins. My family would have found a way to sedate me, no problem. This was going to happen to me the day I got Cured, but it didn't have to happen to you."

"And it was my decision to make. No one forced me."

"An ill-informed decision! You didn't know it was going to regress you. Would you have still—"

"Yes, dammit. Stop arguing with me about this, Remy. Maybe neither of us knew what the full ramifications were going to be, but not even in hindsight would I have done anything differently. If anything I should be thanking you."

"...Désolé," Gambit said with a blink. "Are we talking about the same thing here? Or do you enjoy feeling like you're on fire?"

Rogue closed her eyes and sighed. She shifted forward and rested her forehead against his, their bodies brushing lightly against each other as a result. He in his underwear, she in hers and a shirt.

"For the first time in my life, I chose to absorb someone for their benefit and not mine. You gave me something no one else has ever managed to give me regarding my powers before: hope," she said, pointing her finger at him. "Don't you dare lay there and belittle that. Don't you _dare_ try to tell me that you have to look after me. You don't owe me a thing."

They look at each other for a long, silent moment, neither wanting to back down.

"You're not wearing a bra," Gambit said finally, and watched as the hurt in Rogue's face was broken by an incredulous smile.

"Well, no," she replied, amused at the cheeky expression on Gambit's face. "I hate wearing the things when I'm awake. No way I'm wearing one to bed."

Gambit's smirk grew wider as he moved his upper hand from Rogue's face and moved it to the small of her back instead.

"You never have to wear one around me if you don't want to," he offered slyly.

"I don't know why you're so interested," Rogue drawled. "They're barely the size of marshmellows."

"Aww chère, don't sell yourself short. Your boobs are bigger than that, but if you want, we can get some marshmellows and do a comparison."

"I really don't think so."

"It's because you know I'm right, isn't it?"

"I think you're quite...excited...enough as it is, Remy. Or didn't you think I would notice your little man standing at attention?"

"I'm in a fourteen-year-old body, gimme a break. Speaking of which, I can't help but notice I'm only in my underwear, Roguey. Have fun undressing me last night?"

"Yeah, you got me," Rogue said dryly. "It was like playing with a real-life Ken doll. Whoopie."

"Oh you like to play with dolls? Maybe I should have given you one of the electronic babies after all," Gambit teased her as he pressed in closer.

"You've got the equipment of a Ken doll too."

"That was low."

"I can go lower."

"Really? Would you please?"

"Okay, you've got bad foot odour. By the way," Rogue went on with a smirk. "I can't believe your first question to me this morning was if we slept together."

"Hey, the only time a woman is ever in my bed in the morning is because we had sex the night before," Gambit replied defensively. "It was a reasonable question, at least, from my perspective anyway. Just because you're a... Y'know chère, I think that's the real reason why I was crying and refusing to let you go."

"Yeah?"

"This whole 'no premarital sex' thing you have going."

Rogue laughed and sat up in the bed.

"Has anyone ever told you," she said as she got out of the bed, "that you think way too much about sex?"

"Oui," Gambit replied, watching as Rogue put her skirt back on. "Has anyone ever told you that you have nice legs?"

"Thanks. I work out."

* * *

Gambit was, as usual, the first one up on Christmas morning. When Aimee and Sebastien were younger and excited about waking up on Christmas, he would join them in pouncing on Mercy and Henri's beds, and even Jean-Luc's occasionally. Henri, of course, would always accuse him of being the bigger kid. Nowadays, however, the teenagers liked to sleep in just like everyone else. Except for Gambit, who seemed incapable of it and was actually rather proud of that fact.

Eventually though, people started to rise and one by one entered the kitchen where Gambit had breakfast prepared. Being an early bird (and a night owl) was one of the things that had gotten Gambit into cooking: he'd go into the kitchen looking for food and Tante Mattie ended up teaching him, partly to give him something useful to do, and partly to keep him from getting into mischief _too_ early in the morning.

"Hmm," Henri said. "Appears everyone's here except Rogue."

"I'll get her," Aimee volunteered.

"No, no," Gambit said. "You continue eating, petite. I'll get her."

"And when everyone's done with breakfast I guess we'll open the presents," Mercy said in a mock-resigned tone as if this was a huge burden on everyone.

Gambit chuckled and made his way to the bedrooms. When he got to Rogue's door, he contemplating knocking, then changed his mind at the last second and let himself in. He pounced on the bed and grinned down at her form.

"Roguey!" he shouted childishly. "It's Christmas! You gotta get up!"

Rogue grabbed the second pillow and threw it up him.

"Go 'way," she mumbled turning over.

"Aww," Gambit said, catching the pillow and putting it back down again. "But Roguey, we're all waiting for you."

Gambit chuckled as Rogue grumbled at him, then stopped as his eyes focused on her bare back peeking at him from beneath the sheets. He let out a slow breath.

"Roguey...are you naked?"

Rogue didn't answer and a big grin appeared on Gambit's face as he slid down next to her.

"Well now," he said smugly, wrapping an arm across her waist, over the covers. "Emma wears clothes to bed and you don't. I had you both picked wrong."

"Go. Away," Rogue said tersely.

"I sleep naked too," Gambit said quietly into her ear. "Saves time."

"I do not want to hear you say that. Beat it, Swamp Rat."

Gambit chuckled wickedly.

"Okay, ma chérie," he said gleefully. "I'm giving you ten minutes to get out of bed and get dressed or I'm just going to have to come in again. And I won't close my eyes."

"I'll kick your ass."

"If you're naked, you can do whatever you want to me."

* * *

Despite anything Gambit might have said to Rogue, he was actually rather relieved he didn't see her naked when she emerged from her room five minutes later. Now _that_ was something he'd never thought he'd hear himself, well, think. Regardless of how much he flirted or made suggestions, Gambit was acutely aware of the very fine line he was walking on with Rogue and knew once he crossed that line there was no going back.

The walk to the dining room was silent and tense, and finally just feet away from the door, Gambit took her hand and stopped her in her tracks.

"Rogue," he said softly, trying to catch her gaze. "I'm sorry if I embarrassed you."

Rogue sighed and looked at him with pursed lips.

"Why are there no locks on the bedroom doors around here anyway?" she asked, the question the only way she was willing to say she accepted his apology.

"We're all thieves, chère," Gambit replied with a grin and a bright twinkle in his eye. "Everyone knows how to pick locks by the time they're seven. It's a little redundant."

"Okay," Rogue conceded as they continued on their way. "I take the point."

Gambit chuckled.

* * *

Rogue and the LeBeaus handed out their gifts to each other. Rogue had no idea what to get everyone, so Gambit just put her name next to his on the presents he'd bought.

"Here you are, Thug-boy," Gambit said, handing one to Sebastien.

"Would you stop calling me that?" Sebastien scowled at him.

"Hmm... no."

Sebastien grunted and opened up the present. He frowned when he looked at the black stuff inside.

"What's this?" Sebastien asked, looking up at everyone with a confused frown on his face.

"I'm surprised," Gambit smirked at him. "Haven't you seen coal before?"

Sebastien's response was to throw it at him. Gambit ducked it easily and snickered.

"Remy, was that really necessary?" asked Mercy.

"Necessary? No. Fun? Absolutely," Gambit replied cheerfully. "And this is for you, _Tante_ Mercy."

Mercy rolled her eyes at the unnecessary title, but accepted the present with a pleasant "Thank you".

"Rogue," said Jean-Luc, passing a present to her. "This is from the LeBeau's to you."

"Aww, thank you," Rogue replied. "You didn't need to get me anything."

"Nonsense."

Rogue smiled and pulled away the wrapped to reveal a couple of bottles of fine massage oils.

"Oooh," she said. "I haven't used oils before. Thanks. Hey, if any of you decide you want a massage before I go, feel free to ask."

"Thank you Rogue," Mercy smiled. "I may just take you up on that."

"Except you," Gambit said, pointing his finger at his nephew. "You only get coal, boy. No massage from a belle fille for you."

Sebastien opened his mouth to retort but Henri cut in:

"Can't you two get along any more?" he demanded. "Seb, you used to be so excited when your oncle Remy came to visit and now all you two do is bicker."

"What can I say, mon frère?" Gambit asked. "I hold grudges against people who say things like 'I'm glad you're dead'."

"Didn't mean it," Sebastien muttered.

"Damage is done."

"Hey, Remy," Rogue cut in. "This is for you."

"Merci," Gambit replied, turning his attention away from Sebastien and onto the soft present. "Hmm... what's this chère? Underwear?"

"Open it and find out, pervert-boy."

Henri snickered. He passed out a couple more presents to others while Gambit opened his. He laughed when he pulled out the shirt inside and held it up for everyone to read the slogan: "Remember my name: You'll be screaming it later".

"I like it," Gambit said, grinning broadly.

"Don't encourage him," Henri said, but not without a chuckle.

"I'm not encouraging him," Rogue said cheerfully. "I'm taunting him. He hasn't gotten any in over a year."

"This is true. How are you holding up, Remy? You know, with all the withdrawal symptoms. I don't know if they make a patch for satyromania."

"I am not a satyromaniac," Gambit replied, rolling his eyes.

"Uh huh. Whatever helps you get through the day."

"Anyway, chère," Gambit said, pulling out a small box from amongst his pile of presents. "This is for you. Merry Christmas."

"Thanks," Rogue replied. "Besides, I'm really looking forward to seeing him wear it around Logan and seeing what reaction he gets."

Gambit chuckled and Rogue ripped away the wrapping paper. Beneath it was a jewellery box. Rogue glanced up at Gambit curiously before opening up the box and pulling out an emerald pendant.

"Wow. Remy, this is really nice. I'm not sure I can, umm," Rogue paused when she looked up and noticed the quirk of Gambit's eyebrow, "really wear it anywhere, but isn't that always the way with nice jewellery?"

"I'm sure there'll be some special occasion some time, ma chère," Gambit replied cheerfully.

"This explains the jewellery box," Rogue said slowly, and as she was looking at Gambit, she didn't notice the quick glance that Mercy and Henri shared with each other. "You have some diabolical evil scheme to fill it up, don't you?"

"See Roguey?" Gambit said, kissing her cheek softly. "I always knew you were smart."

After the presents were finished being handed out, Mercy glanced at the clock.

"Ahh. Those of us who're going to church this morning had better get going if we want to get there in time," Mercy said, looking around the room. "Who's coming?"

"I will, thanks," Rogue said.

"Me too," said Aimee.

"Jean-Luc?" Mercy inquired.

"Of course."

"And of course, you'll be passing again this year, won't you Henri?"

"I'll go if Remy goes," Henri said cheerfully.

"Well, we can't leave Sebastien here by himself then," Gambit said, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "So I guess we're all going."

Rogue covered her mouth to hide her smile while Gambit's family stared at him.

"Since when did you start going to church again, Remy?" asked Henri.

"About a year ago, come to think of it," Gambit mused. "C'mon, times a'wasting."

"But I don't wanna go," Sebastien complained.

"It's only an hour," Mercy said. "I'm sure you'll survive."

* * *

Much later that day, Gambit and Henri were sitting at the bar with Etienne, Emil and Theoren, half of which were also enjoying a smoke. Jean-Luc had called it a night, Sebastien was playing with his second cousins, Mercy held court with her friends and Aimee and Rogue were watching Aimee's new movie.

"Mind telling me what that was all about with Rogue this morning?" Henri asked Gambit. "With the jewellery?"

"What?" Gambit asked. "I can't give her something shiny for Christmas?"

Emil chuckled.

"I understand," Emil said gleefully. "Remy does have a girlfriend, she just doesn't know it yet."

"Not like that, Emil," Gambit said.

"Uh huh."

"Seriously."

"Whatever you have to tell yourself."

"We're just friends."

Etienne promptly choked on his drink and Theoren had to reach over and pound his back.

"Merci," Etienne said to his brother once he recovered himself and stared at Gambit. "Never in my whole life did I ever expect you to say those words. Are we sure this is the real Remy?"

"You know," Henri said. "That's a good question. This morning he went to church _voluntarily_."

"Okay," said Theoren, pointing at Gambit. "Who are you, and what have you done with Remy?"

"He died a year ago, remember?" Gambit replied quietly.

"In which case you should be in the other room with the little kids," Theoren teased him.

"Or making out with Rogue," Emil added, grinning wildly.

"I told you. We're not like that," Gambit said with a flash of annoyance in his eyes. "The fille has the mutant ability to knock people into comas. She helped me out, and then paid for it. I'm just trying to make everything right for her."

"I don't know, Remy," Etienne said. "I think you're just proving that no matter what happens, you can always get a girl."

"He can always get laid, you mean," Theoren snickered.

"Actually, Rogue's the 'no premarital sex' type," Gambit corrected. "So, even if things were like that, I still wouldn't be getting laid."

"Yeah, right," Emil snorted. "The word 'challenge' mean anything to anyone?"

"You know, I am perfectly capable of respecting her boundaries."

"Respect, maybe," Henri said, grinning broadly. "Capable of not _breaching_ them, on the other hand..."

"Dangling a big carrot," Emil joked.

"I don't like carrots," Gambit replied. "You know, you guys are all wrong. I'm not going to try and get into her pants, and the more you say you think I'm going to, the more incentive I have to prove you wrong."

"Oooh," Etienne said. "It's the challenge of the conflicting challenges. Will Remy take away Rogue's future husband's chance to deflower her? Or will he go though the next four years sexually frustrated? Only time will tell and either way, he's going to lose."

"No, I'm going to win, Etienne," Gambit said firmly. "Rogue made her intentions clear, and I won't endanger our friendship by trying to seduce her into changing her mind. End of discussion."

"I don't know," Theoren drawled. "It's like in _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_ where Sir Galahad the Chaste enters the Tower of Anthrax."

"Ha yeah," Emil chuckled gleefully. "One hundred and sixty virgins all between the ages of sixteen and nineteen and a half."

"Remy would never survive the Tower of Anthrax," Henri said.

"What do you mean, _Remy_ would never survive?" Etienne asked. "It's the virgins who'd never survive."

* * *

**AN: **There you are, Fostersb: the _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_, reference you wanted, hehehe.


	24. The Prank War

**AN: **This chapter is credited to Irual, after discussions about pranks and twinkies. Hehehe.

**Disclaimer: **All the pranks done below I picked up off the net, so I don't know how well they work in real life. The exception is the one involving peroxide, which one of my science teachers told us about in high school as one he and some friends of his did in Uni. Round 1 was funny. My teacher refused to have anything to do with round 2, which involved a stronger mix. The unfortunate victim to receive the "Logan dose" couldn't sit down for a week. Not so funny.

Which brings me to my point: pranks that hurt people aren't funny, and the more involved in a prank war you get, the greater the chances of people going too far. When you look back you want to remember and say "yeah, that was funny" not "that ruined our friendship" or "he went to jail over that" (because kids can get away with stuff adults can't).

And now that my responsible deed for the day is done...

* * *

**Chapter 23: The Prank War**

Rogue and Gambit were back in Westchester only a couple of weeks when they had their first dance lesson. Rogue had been rather surprised when she first broached the subject to Emma and gotten no resistance. Emma had a few disparaging comments to make about Rogue's choice of dance partner, but otherwise she approved whole-heartedly of the idea.

It was Logan who provided the resistance:

"I don't want your filthy hands on Rogue," Logan declared firmly, pointing at Gambit.

"Filthy?" Gambit repeated, holding up his hands. "Monsieur Claws, I fear you are mistaken no? They're perfectly clean. I only just washed them."

"Logan," Rogue said patiently. "It's just dance lessons. It'll be fun."

"Sure it will. It'll start off vertical and end up horizontal," Logan growled.

"Okay, you've been hanging around him too long," Rogue said, pointing at Gambit. "That's something I'd expect him to say."

"Actually," Gambit said merrily. "I'd say something more like; I know how to dance the mambo horizontally and vertically. Which would you prefer?"

"Not helping," Rogue told him the same time Logan said: "I rest my case."

"Or maybe," Gambit went on cheerfully like they hadn't said anything. "Dance is like making love standing up."

Kitty giggled.

"Say, Roguey," Gambit added, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "I know the man is supposed to lead, but I really don't mind if you want to _lead_."

"See, it's bad enough that you two insist on having your private little movie nights," Logan said. "There is absolutely no way whatsoever I will condone you learning to dance with Squeaky as your partner, Stripes. Especially off campus where there is no one to make sure that Squeaky's behaving himself."

"Oh, I always behave myself—" Gambit began.

"Still not helping," Rogue interrupted, glaring at him.

"You know what," Kitty cut in. "I think learning to dance sounds like fun."

Everyone look at Kitty. Kitty look at Pete.

"What do you think?" she asked her boyfriend. "Wanna learn how to dance with me?"

Rogue threw Kitty a grateful smile.

"Oh, well, uhh," Pete stammered. "Sure?"

"Actually, I wouldn't mind learning as well," Angelica spoke up. "Do you have to have a partner already or—"

"I'll go with you," Bobby volunteered. "I hear that girls like to dance."

Rogue might have been more inclined to believe that was really what Bobby was thinking if she hadn't noticed the look he'd shared with Logan. Great, so both her father-figure and her ex-boyfriend were paranoid about her relationship with Gambit. Rogue decided it was a really good thing neither she nor Gambit had ever mentioned the massage sessions before their movie nights.

Still, thanks to Kitty's intervention, Logan had finally conceded, and here they were. Kitty was enjoying herself, happily encouraging the very uncomfortable-looking Pete, who spent more time looking at his feet than at his girlfriend. Bobby and Angelica looked a little awkward, trying to get the hang of it, but you don't do that many years of martial arts training without gaining a good grasp of footwork, and were catching on quickly. Rogue and Gambit weren't having any problems learning the new steps and were having a good time at their first class.

* * *

"What are we doing?" Rogue asked quietly as she followed Gambit down the hallway.

Gambit didn't reply, only gestured for her to follow. Rogue rolled her eyes. Gambit pressed the button for the elevator, which opened immediately, and tugged her inside. Rogue folded her arms across her chest as Gambit pressed the button for the med lab. She looked at Gambit with a raised eyebrow as the elevator headed down, but he just grinned back at her. Not long thereafter the elevator opened and the two stepped out into the med lab.

"Hank?" Gambit called.

"You don't really think he's here at this hour?" Rogue asked.

"Nope. Just wanted to make sure," Gambit said looking around. "This way."

"What are we doing here?"

"I just thought we might want some different snacks with our movie night," Gambit replied cheerfully as he headed into Hank's office.

"Different... Oooh!" Rogue exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. "You found out where Hank's twinkie stash is?"

"Oui. Right over... there!" Gambit pointed at the subject cupboard, opened up the door and shifted a few boxes out of the way to find the packets of twinkies tucked into the back.

"Ha, cool," Rogue laughed.

"Here you are, chérie," Gambit said pulling out the boxes. "One for you, and one for me. Oh dear."

"What's 'oh dear'."

"Well," Gambit said as he put everything else back the way it was. "It would seem that Hank only had the two boxes."

"Wow really? He and Bobby must be overdue for a twinkie run."

Gambit chuckled. Together the two left the med lab and sneaked back to Gambit's room to feast on their spoils and watch _Ghostbusters II_.

The next evening there were dual cries of horror when Hank and Bobby discovered their twinkie fest had been besmirched. This was immediately followed by an emergency twinkie run and vows to avenge the theft, just as soon as they found out who was responsible for this outrage.

* * *

Gambit was responding to nature in his ensuite, standing in front of the toilet and doing his thing when he heard dripping and actually felt a warm drip land on his foot. He looked down and it took him a moment before he realised what had happened.

"Merde!" he exclaimed, practically jumping back from the toilet.

Someone had plastic-wrapped over the toilet. Urine was pooled slightly in the middle, but the wrap just been pulled just tight enough that yellow liquid was spilling over the sides. Gambit stared at the mess, finally let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding and tentatively pulled up the plastic wrap, wincing when more spilled over the sides. He cleaned up the mess, finished his business and then proceeded to have a hot, soapy shower.

* * *

Gambit's suspicion that Bobby and Hank were behind it was confirmed when he discovered the "Wanted" picture up on the notice board. They had used the casino photo from the glamour photo shoot the year before and labelled them "The Twinkie Bandits". Apparently he was "The Cake Demon" and Rogue was "Cream-Streak".

"They asked Logan to sniff things out," Rogue said from behind.

Gambit turned and grinned at her.

"Hey, it's a nice poster, huh?" he said, pointing his thumb at it.

"Yeah. Nice," Rogue grinned back at him. "Although, I think we should be offended we're only worth a thousand dollars. Hey, if we turn ourselves in, you think they'll actually pay up?"

Gambit laughed.

"I like how I'm the sponge cake and you're the cream filling," he said, wrapping an arm across her shoulders. "Although, personally, I think I'd prefer to be the cream filling."

"Yeah? Why's that?" Rogue asked.

Gambit snickered then looked at her, highly amused. She looked back at him, smiling at his obvious amusement but puzzled all the same.

"What?" she asked.

"Do I really have to explain that?"

Gambit was sure he could see the cogs turning in Rogue's mind as she put two and two together. The puzzled amusement made a rapid, visual shift to horrified disgust and she pushed him away.

"Eww! Remy, you're foul," she exclaimed.

Gambit chuckled gleefully. Rogue shuddered again and turned away from him.

"I'll tell you what's really foul, chère," Gambit said merrily. "Getting your toilet plastic wrapped."

"Oh... they did that to you too?"

"It wasn't just me?"

"No," Rogue said, looking back at him.

"Hmm," Gambit said, rubbing his chin. "You realise, of course, this means war."

* * *

Gambit felt that getting reamed out and a week of double chore duty for starting a food fight in the dining hall by Storm was completely worth it the following morning when Hank and Bobby showed up with green hair.

"Aww," Rogue said. "Isn't it sweet? They decided to get matching dye jobs."

Bobby sat down at the table, his breakfast in hand, and he glared at Rogue. Rogue smiled back angelically at him.

"Twinkie thief," he said.

"Pea head," Rogue retorted.

Gambit snickered. The best way to guarantee that both Bobby and Hank would wash their hair the same night was to make sure they copped it in the food fight. Hank was sitting with Storm, Logan, Emma and Betsy, looking extremely uncomfortable with his normally blue fur a lovely shade of green.

"It uhh," Warren said, trying to cover up a snicker. "Looks good on you, Bobby."

Bobby just gave the table a dire look as they all, one by one, dissolved into giggles.

* * *

Rogue put her hand on the doorknob to her room and -

"Eww!" she exclaimed, reefing her hand back off again.

Something cold and slimey was all over her fingers and part of her palm. She turned up her nose, rubbed her fingers and looked at the doorknob. Behind her she heard laughter and she slowly turned around to find Bobby leaning against the wall and giggling away. Rogue sighed and half closed her eyes.

"It's Vaseline, isn't it?" Rogue asked.

"Yep," Bobby replied gleefully.

Rogue held out her hand. "Shirt, please."

"Yeah, right."

"We can do this the hard way or the easy way."

"I choose... Bobby's way!"

"Fine."

Rogue leapt towards Bobdy, but he skittered out of her way.

"Can't catch me!" Bobby yelled gleefully.

Rogue chased him down the hall. They pelted down the hallway and much to Rogue annoyance, Bobby made it to the elevator just as Jubilee stepped in. Bobby cackled as the doors shut just before Rogue got to them. Rogue glared at the door.

"Stupid Bobby," she muttered.

It was as she was walking back to her room, and trying to figure out the best way to get the Vaseline off the doorknob when an idea occurred to her. Instead of returning to her room, she went to Bobby's instead. She locked the door on the inside with her clean hand, then wiped her greased one on his pillow.

"Hmm," she considered as she surveyed Bobby's messy bedroom. "Where shall I begin?"

A sly smile crawled onto her face as her eyes focused on his water bed.

* * *

Gambit's eyes lit up.

"Bobby has a water bed?" he asked gleefully.

"Yep," Rogue nodded. "Sometimes he freezes stuff in his sleep—you can imagine what good that does to an ordinary mattress. It doesn't happen that often, 'least not any more, but yeah."

"Interesting," Gambit said thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "I've had sex on a water bed a few times."

"I really didn't need to know that. Also, I'm not surprised."

"It's fun."

"I'm sure you've had a great time. Is Bobby going to regret me telling you about it?"

"Quite possibly."

"Oh good," Rogue giggled. "So, as I was saying, I partly drained the waterbed and then I wet the bedsheets."

"Oooh with what?"

"Water. What else? No, don't answer that," Rogue said hurriedly in response to the way Gambit's eyes glittered with devilish mischief. "Anyway, once I was done with his bed I pilfered one of his shirts and used it to wipe the Vaseline off my doorknob. Then I put it back in the wardrobe."

Gambit laughed.

"I like it," he said. "He did it to my room too, so I just climbed in through the balcony instead. Think we should hit Hank as well?"

"Nah, he's still getting yellow dye out of his fur."

"True."

* * *

While Gambit was busy teaching French, Bobby sneaked into his bedroom and opened up Gambit's minifridge. He removed one of Gambit's beers and replaced it with a beer can of his own. A shocking beer can. The only sad thing about this prank was that he wouldn't be there to watch when Gambit picked up the fake beer can and promptly get zapped as soon as he lifted it off the shelf.

Of course, the bright side was that he now had a free beer.

* * *

While Bobby was busy at Uni, Gambit slipped into Bobby's ensuite and smeared his toothbrush with hot pepper extract. He contemplating being merciful and using salt, but Bobby had stolen his beer after he'd gone to all the trouble of stealing it from Logan. Clearly this couldn't go unpunished. Gum swelling was in order.

* * *

"Bonjour?" Gambit said, picking up his phone.

"Hi sugar," Rogue said. "So, I'm kinda thinking you might want to check your toilet seat in your ensuite before you next decide to do number twos."

Gambit chuckled.

"Yeah? Why's that, chère?"

"Peroxide."

"Ahh..." Gambit replied slowly. "They got you?"

"Let's just say there are a few red patches on my skin where there shouldn't be any."

"I thought you were supposed to use peroxide to make the toilet foam after flushing."

"I don't know about that, but this was what Hank and Bobby call the 'Ring Around Uranus' gag."

Gambit burst out laughing.

"I should be glad they at least diluted the formula for me," Rogue said with a sigh. "They did it to Logan once, you see, and didn't dilute it as much as they should have, so..."

"I bet Logan was real happy about that," Gambit laughed.

"Oh, he was thrilled. Not. Bet he was glad he had a healing factor that day. Anyway, just thought I should warn you."

"Merci. Why are most of these pranks happening in the bathroom anyway?"

"Because the only way we can guarantee that no one else is going to get sprung by mistake is if we stick to the bedrooms," Rogue replied.

"Hmm, this is true. Although..."

"Although what?"

"Well, there is always Bobby's car."

"Oooooooh," Rogue giggled. "He hasn't got any Uni classes for the next two days. We should, I don't know, put a banana in the glove box or something."

"I like the way you think."

"Why, thank you. Anyway," Rogue said merrily. "I'm gonna go and take care of my hot ass."

"Want some help?" Gambit asked suggestively.

"No thanks."

"Your ass has always been hot."

"Yes, I know, but it's hotter than usual right now. Burning hot, even. Talk to you later."

"Thanks again for the warning."

"You're welcome."

* * *

About the same time that Bobby was driving to Uni, wondering what on earth that horrible smell in his car was, Hank was in the med lab, putting his cupboards back in order after the contents had been rearranged. As he worked, Hank's mind ticked over the possibilities for the next prank.

* * *

"Okay," said Bobby gleefully to Hank. "This is our best chance. We've got one hour before Rogue and Remy are done with their classes."

"I do believe that will be plenty of time to complete the switch," Hank said.

"Let's do this thing."

Bobby went into Rogue's room and Hank went into Gambit's. Each opened up the door to the built-in wardrobes and pulled out the clothes.

* * *

As neither Rogue nor Gambit had any reason to change their clothes for the rest of the day, it wasn't until after Gambit had finished his early morning workout and had returned to his bedroom to change into his day clothes that the switch was noticed. After his unintended inspection of Rogue's clothes, Gambit gathered them up with one choice item on top and made his way down the hall to Rogue room.

Rogue was somewhat annoyed at having been woken up so early and there was a deep frown on her face as she hurriedly put on her dressing gown and pulled the door open.

"Remy?" she questioned. "What are you doing here so early?"

Gambit held up a black miniskirt.

"It's cute and all, chère, but I don't think it's my size."

Rogue stared at the skirt and blinked, still sleepy.

"That's mine," she said.

"I figured they were all yours. I'm hoping my clothes are in here."

"Oh... right."

"Can I come in?"

Rogue held the door open, her tired brain still trying to comprehend what was happening. Gambit opened up her wardrobe and found his clothes in there.

"I'll take these," Gambit said cheerfully. "Sorry to wake you, chère."

"'Sokay," Rogue replied. "I think I need to wake up."

"I think so too."

"Shower," she murmured, making her way to her ensuite.

"Ooh, can I watch?"

Rogue declined to answer him, and Gambit decided it must be too early in the morning to get any sass-mouthing from her. He returned to his own room and also showered and was about to actually start the dressing process when there was a knock at his door. Securing his towel back around his waist, Gambit opened the door to find a rather red-faced Rogue, dressed in her robe and standing at the doorway with a bundle of boxes and briefs in her arms.

"I believe these are yours," she said curtly.

"Look like it to me."

"I blame Bobby," Rogue added darkly as she handed them over. "Hank wouldn't dream of switching underwear."

Gambit chuckled and moved away from the door so that Rogue could come in. He dumped his underwear on the bed and opened the drawer where he normally kept it. Politely, he moved away so that Rogue could pick it up herself. With only a 'thanks', Rogue collected her underwear and departed. Gambit closed the door behind her, and it was only then that he noticed the bra on the floor. She must have dropped it on the way out. Shrugging, Gambit picked it up (hmm, red lace, d-cup, this must be one of her 'adult' bras) and reopened the door but as he couldn't see her in the hallway, he figured she must have already gone in her room. He shrugged to himself, headed down the hall and knocked on her door.

Now it happened that at just the same moment that Rogue opened her door (with much annoyance) that Gambit felt the heavy footsteps of Logan coming down the hall. Gambit glanced up and groaned inwardly at what Logan must be thinking: He with nothing but a towel around his waist, one of Rogue's bras in his hand and Rogue at her doorway, wrapped in her robe.

"Just what is going on here?" Logan demanded, the sound of 'snikt' punctuating the question.

"Not what you're thinking," Gambit replied cheerfully.

"Yeah? And just what is it that I'm thinking, Squeaky?"

"Why, that I'm borrowing Rogue's bra, of course, because wearing women's underwear makes me feel sexy," Gambit replied without even the hint of a smile on his face. "But in actual fact, Roguey left it in my room this morning after a night of plowing her into the mattress—"

"Remy!" Rogue exclaimed, bright-faced.

Logan growled loudly. Gambit grinned at him and took off down the hall as Logan chased after. In hindsight, Gambit decided that baiting Logan probably wasn't the smartest idea at a school when he was only in a towel. The effort required to keep the towel in the proper place did kill his speed somewhat, and he was rather grateful that most everyone was still in bed. If they had been at the Guild Hall, he wouldn't have cared.

Logan chased Gambit outside. Gambit made for the wall where his balcony was, flung the towel in Logan's face to buy him some time and climbed back into his room. He then had to have another shower to wash the mud off.

By the time Logan returned, Rogue managed to catch him and assure him that nothing had happened, except for a clothes-switching prank courtesy of Hank and Bobby. Logan was not impressed and took great delight in torturing Bobby and Gambit in extra danger room sessions.

* * *

"Are you obsessive-compulsive or something?" Rogue asked Gambit later. "Do you just Ihave/I to antagonise Logan at every given opportunity."

"Roguey, I have to antagonise _everyone_ at every given opportunity," Gambit grinned at her.

Rogue laughed.

"And speaking of which," Gambit went on cheerfully. "I know just the prank to use on Bobby."

"Oh?"

"I could have killed Emil when he did it to me."

"That bad huh?"

"Oh, it's a doozy. You can't pull it on the same person twice, though, unless they're _really_ stupid. So, I only save it for special occasions like when penance must be paid for going through your underwear."

Rogue chuckled.

* * *

_Bobby was with Rogue. Not 14 year old Rogue, but 19 year old Rogue. They were together and they could touch. She turned to face him and their lips met in a kiss. Her tongue entered his mouth: a fat, warm, salty tongue that practically filled the cavern. His danced with hers eagerly until she pulled away._

Bobby opened his eyes.

Zzzziiiiip!

All time seemed to freeze as Bobby took in the sight before him. Gambit was on the bed, straddling him, and grinning down at him with devilish mischief in his eyes. His recently done up fly was practically in Bobby's face.

Bobby screamed. With a burst of ice from his hands, Bobby pushed Gambit off him, and flung him across the room where he hit the wall hard and was frosted in place.

"What are you?" Bobby demanded even as he leapt out of bed. "Gay?"

Bobby made a beeline for the ensuite while Gambit laughed and used his powers to charge the ice and release himself. He sauntered into the ensuite where he watched Bobby washing his mouth out.

"So," Gambit said conversationally. "Was that as good for you as it was for me?"

"I think I'm going to be sick," Bobby replied after he spat into the sink.

"Aww, I'm so sorry you didn't enjoy your sausage," Gambit answered with a smirked as he held up a fat sausage he had recently heated.

Bobby looked up from the sink to stare at Gambit and the sausage.

"You're sick," Bobby accused him.

Gambit just laughed at him.


	25. One Big Poker Game

**AN: **Squidboy is comic-canon. His mother also showed up in the comics, and then as a mutant in WatX. I don't really know a great deal about her though, so this is another take on her.

I've never actually played poker with real people before, so I might be off on the terminology. I certainly haven't played it in a casino like Gambit would have, so if any of you have and are able to enlighten me of any mistakes, I'd love to know.

This is not a filler chapter. It might seem that way on the surface, but it's not. It was also a lot of fun to write.

* * *

**Chapter 24: One Big Poker Game**

Gambit, Rogue, Kitty, Warren and Sam were seated at one of the tables in the rec room with Gambit's poker table top in place.

"Mind if I join you?" Betsy asked on her approach.

"Sure, Gambit said before anyone else could reply. "Pull up a chair."

"Just as long as you keep your telepathy to yourself," Kitty added quickly with a dire look at both Gambit and Betsy.

"Try not to think too loudly then," Betsy replied calmly as she brought a chair to the table. "What's the buy in?"

"No buy in," Gambit replied as he pushed a pile of chips in. "Raise 20. We're just playing friendly because these guys are too wimpy to gamble anything."

"We're not wimps," Warren said. "We're smart."

"I suppose that must bear some weight from the guy who goes around shirtless in the middle of winter," Betsy commented.

"I'm not complaining," Rogue giggled. "Call."

"One of these days we're going to hide out in one of the spare bedrooms—" Gambit began.

"What spare bedrooms?" Sam drawled. "Fold."

"—and play strip."

"Oooh I'm all for that."

"Call," Kitty said. "I think that we should get the boys to play strip and us girls can watch."

"Sounds like a great idea to me," Rogue grinned.

"Call," said Warren.

"If you don't strip, you don't play," Gambit said.

"So, you won't be playing then?" Rogue asked, batting her eyelids.

"Depends on which way you want to play strip poker, chère," Gambit replied. "Some versions everyone strips at least one item of clothing."

"Well, you would know."

"You haven't lived until you've played strip poker with a supermodel. Oh, hi Betsy," Gambit winked at her.

"I'd hardly call myself a supermodel," Betsy replied.

"Well, you're a model and I think you're super."

"Do you use lame lines like that all the time? Because if so, I'm going to start wondering how you get any girls."

Cards were shown, Gambit won the round (there's a big surprise), and Kitty as the dealer for the next round, began shuffling the cards. Gambit fished some chips out of the box for Betsy.

"By the way, who did Jubes pick up from the airport?" asked Warren.

"New nurse," Kitty replied. "Evelyn Pare and her son, Sammy."

"Good name," Sam said with a grin.

"Sammy's a mutant too. Apparently he likes to call himself Squidboy."

"Squidboy," Gambit snickered. "Gee, I wonder what his powers could be."

"Oh, I saw him," Rogue said. "He's cute. He's got these cute little fishy ears and this fin growing out his head like a mohawk and—"

"He's pink," Warren added. "What? I saw them, I just didn't know who they were."

"Actually I think he was more red," Rogue said thoughtfully.

"He's coral," Betsy corrected.

"Whatever," Kitty dismissed as she started dealing the cards. "He's here, and his mother. I know Hank's been after an assistant for awhile now."

"Ha, all Stormy needs to do now is get that school counsellor and we're all set," Gambit joked.

"You know," Sam said. "I heard that Storm and Logan are thinking about doing an expansion of the mansion. I mean, when you think about it we're getting more and more students here all the time."

"And not enough properly qualified teachers," Betsy commented with a sniff.

"Not enough mutants interested in getting into teaching, and not enough humans willing to teach at a mutant school," Warren said. "We're working on it. Check."

"Still this is a good sign," Kitty said. "I mean, we have so many people here who can't go back home because they're mutants, but here we have the human mother of a mutant child who isn't disowning him or anything. I mean, sometimes I totally dread going home because... Well, y'know, things get awkward and we all sort of avoid the subject. But you guys get my point, right?"

"Check," Betsy said.

"Yeah, now if we can just get through to the rest of the population," Rogue grinned.

"My parents know all about me and Paige," Sam said. "They don't have a problem with it."

"Raise 1," Gambit said cheerfully, putting the chip in. "Mon père adopted me even before he knew I could blow stuff up, demon eyes and all. You know, petite, though our teacher situation isn't the best, human/mutant relations are not quite as bad as people make out. We probably see the worst of it here because the kids who get the short end of the stick end up here."

"Or with the Brotherhood or something," Rogue said and put her chip in the middle. "Call. I miss John."

"John?" Gambit asked.

"Call," said Sam.

"Oh, sorry, John as in Pyro, not John as in Thunderbird. He left here before you came and joined the Brotherhood. Liked their philosophy better."

"We're not really sure if he made it out of Alcatraz alive," Kitty added. "Call."

"Pyro was alive and well the last time I saw him," Betsy said.

"You've seen him?" Rogue asked eagerly.

"Call," said Warren.

"Yes, it was a little over a year ago now," Betsy replied. "He was there on behalf of Magneto. They were looking to reform the Brotherhood. Call."

"Got bored with throwing people off buildings?" Kitty asked snarkily.

"I told him I'd think about it after my contract was up," Betsy replied calmly. "Not that that's any of your business."

"So, is that what this is really about?" Kitty demanded. "You're just training here and then you're going to join the Brotherhood?"

"Kindly do not put words in my mouth."

"Ladies, ladies," Gambit interrupted. "If you're going to start fighting, please do it in a mud pit so the rest of us can enjoy it."

"You are such a perv," Rogue told him disgustedly.

"I thought it sounded like a pretty good plan to me," Sam grinned.

"I'm all for the mud wrestling," Warren nodded. "Two cards please."

"Men," Betsy and Kitty said in unison, then looked at each other in disgust when they realised they actually agreed on something.

Rogue laughed at them. Betsy exchanged her cards.

"Rogue can fight the winner," Gambit said cheerfully, sliding a card face down to Kitty to exchange. "Two thanks."

"Really, can I please fight all three of you boys at once?" Rogue asked batting her eyelids at them and passing a card to Kitty. "One card, please Kitty. Let's see, Warren would be easy: I imagine it would be hard to fly if your feathers are clogged down with mud—"

"Thanks a lot," Warren said dryly.

"Three cards," Sam said to Kitty.

"And of course," Rogue went on merrily. "Sam's only invulnerable if he's cannonballing it at the time, and a mud pit isn't the best place for that, so then he'll be out for the count."

"I think you're underestimating my hand to hand combat skills." Sam nodded.

"And that just leaves Remy," Rogue said, grinning at him slyly. "Now albeit, the Swamp Rat probably feels right at home in the mud—"

"Oui, but that puts you at a disadvantage, doesn't it River Rat?" Gambit replied.

"But I know just the way to deal with his sort."

An expectant silence followed as everyone looked at Rogue, who just grinned at Gambit.

"And now that you have everyone curious, ma chère, care to divulge?" Gambit asked.

"Let's just say," Rogue said with a smirk. "I know how to get your little man to stand at attention, and I'm not afraid to stomp on him when he does."

Kitty giggled.

"Raise 5," Warren said, pushing his chips into the centre.

"Ahh, but first you have to get that close," Gambit replied tolerantly.

"Raise 10," Betsy said.

"I can get as close to you as I want any time I want," Rogue said confidently.

"Call," Gambit said. "You wouldn't happen to be coming onto me, would you Roguey?"

"You wish. I fold," Rogue replied, turning her cards over.

"Call," said Sam, pushing the chips in.

"Fold," said Kitty. "Seriously, why don't you two just start dating already?"

"I don't know. When are you and Pete planning on getting married?" Rogue retorted sharply. "You've been together long enough."

Kitty poked her tongue out at her.

"Call," Warren said, pushing his chips in. "Now girls, let's not start getting nasty. Not unless there's mud involved."

There was a pause in the conversation while they revealed their cards. Betsy won and the deck was passed onto Warren.

"How'd we get onto mud wrestling again?" Sam asked.

"Betsy and Kitty were arguing about the Brotherhood," Gambit said.

"I'm glad that John's okay," Rogue said. "Sure, I don't think too much of the company he keeps these days, but at least he's alive and not dissolved into nothingness."

"Close friend of yours, chère?" Gambit asked, his face impassive.

"Me, Bobby and John used to hang out all the time. He's pretty good for a laugh," Rogue replied. "I guess he just reached his breaking point when Stryker invaded and then on top of that, Ronnie—Bobby's brother—got freaked out by us and called the police. 'Cause we went to Bobby's place to hide out for a bit and well, yeah."

Warren began to deal the cards.

"Thanks for letting me know, Betsy," Rogue added.

Betsy looked at her, surprise flickering across her face.

"Oh, it's no big deal," she dismissed.

"Well, you could have just sat there and not said a thing, and none of us would have been any the wiser," Rogue pointed out seriously. "So I appreciate you clearing up the mystery."

Betsy coughed uncomfortably and opened the round with a bet.

"Raise 5," Gambit said pushing in his chip. "So Rogue, what do you think for our next movie night we make it an all-nighter and watch the Terminator movies."

"Call," Rogue replied as she put her chip in the middle. "Sounds like fun."

"Oh Logan's going to love that," Kitty giggled.

"Fold," said Sam.

"Well, you know," Rogue shrugged. "It's not like we're doing anything...y'know, nasty."

"Unless you count the farting," Gambit joked.

"Call," Kitty said, sliding her chip in. "And I don't need to know about your flatulence, thank you."

"Call," said Warren. "What would you know about flatulence, Kitty? It's not like girls ever fart."

"You're joking right?" Gambit said, pointing his thumb at Rogue. "She comes out with some real shockers."

"Call," said Betsy as she moved the additional chips into the middle and slid two cards face down to Warren. "I'll have two, thanks."

"One for me," Gambit said.

"I come out with the shockers?" Rogue said with a raised eyebrow as she handed three cards over to Warren. "Three, please. You're the one who let loose one so bad last time, I evacuated to the bathroom."

"Yeah," Gambit snickered. "That was a good one."

"I'm sure I don't want to be hearing this," Kitty said, sliding over her cards. "Two cards, please."

Warren passed the cards over and exchanged his own.

"Aww Kitty," said Sam. "We all fart. Some more potently than others. I know Pete comes out with some good ones."

"Check," Betsy said.

"Pete is far too polite to fart in front of me," Kitty replied primly. "He usually disappears to another room."

"Raise 10," Gambit said as he put his bet in. "So, Pete's one of those guys who's too shy to fart in front of girls, is he?"

"I think it's sweet," Kitty said.

"I call," Rogue said and proceeded to taunt Gambit once she put her chip in the middle: "You're the 'ladies man', Remy. Haven't you ever left the room to fart in private?"

"Depends on the femme," Gambit replied with a shrug. "Of course, it's also incentive not to get gassy food when you go out too—that way you don't have to decide. I never said I was picking on Pete."

"Raise 20," Kitty said, moving her chips into the middle. "Good, because Pete's a sweetheart."

"Fold," said Warren, turning his cards over. "So, girls dig guys not being there when they fart?"

"Call," Betsy said and put her chips in.

"I don't care, myself," Rogue said. "Although I do appreciate the thought, and also not having to smell it if it's going to be a stinky one."

"Raise 40," Gambit said. "Just like everything else, mon ami, different filles have different opinions on the whole farting issue. On one end of the spectrum you have the femmes who ignore it, and who insist that they never fart. Then on the other end you have the femmes who revel in it and even compete with you."

"Esh, fold," Rogue said, turning her cards over.

"But girls don't fart," Warren insisted. "I swear, I've never heard a girl fart before."

"And you live at a school?" Rogue giggled.

"I like him," Kitty decided cheerfully and tapped her fingers on the table as she regarded her cards. "Hmm... I...call."

"Full House," Betsy said, revealing her cards. "Tens over sixes."

Gambit started turning his cards over one by one.

"Flush straight," he said smugly. "Jack high."

"Darn," Kitty said, turning her cards over. "I only had four kings. Soooo close."

Gambit chuckled and collected the pot.

"How do we know you're not cheating?" Sam asked.

"Why is it everyone has to ask me that?" Gambit replied. "Poker's more fun if you don't cheat. Unless you're playing against a cheater, then it's fun to cheat because it's all: may the best cheater win."

"You like _Maverick_ don't you?" Sam said as Betsy collected the cards up.

"_Maverick_ as in the Mel Gibson movie?" Gambit asked.

"Yeah," Sam nodded.

"Not really my kind of movie," Gambit dismissed. "Maverick is a bit stupid, if you ask me. All his friends were cheating him and he didn't even figure it out."

"I don't know," Rogue said. "As I recall it ends with... what's her name, Jodie Foster's character stealing half his winnings and Maverick making plans to go chase her down and get it back just because it'll be fun. That sounds like something you would do."

"Désolé, are you comparing me to Maverick?" Gambit asked. "I should be insulted."

"Why not? He likes poker," Rogue teased him.

"That's about all we have in common," Gambit muttered.

"I think the movie night after we watch the Terminator movies, we should watch _Maverick_ and I can point out all the stuff you both do," Rogue said merrily.

"And I can point out all the things I can do better," Gambit nodded.

"I can't believe you're arguing over what Remy may or may not have in common with a fictional character," Betsy said, shaking her head as she dealt the cards. "Of course, I also can't believe we just had a discussion on the politeness of farting in public either."

Kitty giggled and Betsy threw her an odd look.

"Sorry," Kitty said. "It's just...'farting' sounds so funny in an English accent."

Betsy rolled her eyes.

"Lots of words sound funny in different accents," Gambit said. "Like...how New Zealanders say six and sex. When they say 'sex' it sounds like 'six' and vice versa. Of course, if you ask them, we're the ones mispronouncing them."

"I've always wanted to go to New Zealand," Rogue said. "All my favourite movies were filmed there. _The Lord of the Rings_, _The Piano_, the Narnia movies. Plus I hear it's really beautiful."

Gambit glanced at his cards and opened the bidding.

"Why don't we do that for our 18th, chérie?" Gambit suggested.

"Do what?" Rogue asked. "Call."

"Go to New Zealand."

"...You're kidding right?"

"Not at all. It'll be fun. We can go sight seeing, and if we go in summer we can avoid the snow. Oh, and best of all, the legal drinking age is 18," he grinned at her.

"I knew there had to be a catch," Rogue smirked at him.

"Raise 5," said Sam. "Do you know what the legal ages are in a lot of countries, Remy?"

"Well, it was more relevant when I was younger, err, the first time around," Gambit replied with a shrug. "I travelled a lot. Actually the legal drinking age is 18 in most countries."

"Call," Kitty said, putting her chip in.

"Remy's probably more interested in the age of consent," Rogue taunted.

"The average is 16," Gambit nodded.

"See? I called it," Rogue said smugly.

"Fold," said Warren.

"Well, it's useful to know these things," Gambit said.

"Call," Betsy said, putting her chip in.

"Because you need to know when you can seduce a 16 year old," Rogue said dryly.

"In some countries," Gambit said, leaning into her, "the legal age is 14."

"You haven't slept with a 14 year old, have you?" Rogue demanded, eyeing him in horror.

"Call," Gambit said, moving his chips in. "That's a silly question, chère. Of course I've slept with a 14 year old. And 13 years olds, 15s, 16s, 17s. I was all those ages myself once before."

"Call. That's not what I meant, and you know it, Swamp Rat," Rogue replied.

"I'll have two cards," Gambit said, passing his cards to Betsy. "I have taste, Rogue. Just because I wouldn't legally be a pedophile, doesn't mean I wouldn't feel like one."

"I sit corrected," Rogue replied and slid her cards to be exchanged over to Betsy. "Two cards please."

"Speaking of which," Warren said. "How's sex ed going with the mixed class?"

"One thanks, Betsy," Sam said, handing his card over.

"'Tis fine," Gambit replied.

"Easy for you to say," Rogue muttered. "You're not the one who got stuck baby sitting over danger room sessions."

Gambit chuckled wickedly as Kitty exchanged her cards.

"Baby sitting?" Betsy asked.

"Yeah, well, the class is all the new students and they're all spread out," Rogue explained. "So, there aren't really enough of the stupid dolls in any one class to justify Logan changing the program so I got stuck looking after the wretched things all last week."

"Ahh," Betsy nodded. "I really don't see the point in those things. I mean, I understand the theory behind it; that if kids know how hard it is to raise a baby they might be...more sensible about their sexual endeavours, but you also risk making them decide they never want to have children at all because they think it's too hard."

"Fold," Gambit said, turning his cards over.

"Raise 5," Rogue said, putting her bet into the middle. "Yeah, I'm kinda getting turned off the whole motherhood thing. Which is bizarre, in a way. I mean, when my powers were active and I couldn't control them, motherhood was this impossibility. So of course, that's what I want most right? But last week I got stuck looking after every one of those little brats. Especially Tuesday. Tuesday sucked. Six hours of non-stop danger room sessions and every single class had at least one of those stupid dolls."

There was general laughter at Rogue's expense and she glowered at the lot of them.

"Raise 10," Sam said.

"Y'know Roguey," Gambit said. "We haven't done anything immature and childish lately."

"Call," said Kitty. "What? The prank war with Bobby and Hank wasn't enough?"

"Call," said Betsy.

"That was freaking hilarious," Warren said. "I love what you did to Bobby."

"You should see the videotape," Gambit replied gleefully.

"Call," Rogue said.

"Yeah, I heard about that," Warren said.

"I still think it was gross," Sam said, shaking his head. "Hey, no offence Remy, but that's that last thing I'd want to wake up to in the morning."

"It was the last thing I wanted to wake up to in the morning too," Gambit nodded.

"Someone did it to you?" Sam asked. "And you still did it to someone else?"

"Oui. Penance had to be paid for going through Roguey's underwear," Gambit replied sagely. "He lost all Roguey's underwear touching privileges when he broke up with her, so I picked the most foul, disgusting, horrifying prank in my repertoire."

Once again, there was a pause in the conversation while the players remaining in the round revealed their cards. Sam won, and Gambit collected the cards which he proceeded to shuffle one-handed.

"I'm with Sam," Kitty said. "Definitely gross."

"I'm sure Pete will be very disappointed to hear you say that," Gambit grinned at her.

"That's pretty neat," Betsy said, her eyes on Gambit's shuffling.

"Why, merci chère," Gambit replied cheerfully. "So, who wants a viewing of the video after the game?"

"Sounds like fun," Warren said. "How'd you get it taped without Bobby knowing?"

"Let's just say that as a master thief, I had access to all sorts of fun pieces of equipment," Gambit said. "I wanted Roguey to see what happened."

"It's pretty awesome," Rogue grinned. "I kinda wonder what he was dreaming about while you had the sausage in his mouth. It looked like to me that he was enjoying it."

"Yeah," Gambit said gleefully. "That just makes it even better. This does not answer the question, however, of what trouble we can get up to."

"Why do you want to get up to trouble?" Betsy asked.

"Most people are only teenagers once. What's the point of having a second childhood if you don't make the most of it?" Gambit replied as he began to deal the cards, also one-handed.

"Point taken," she conceded. "Do you do everything one-handed?"

"Not _everything_," Gambit smirked suggestively.

"Just most things," Rogue said cheekily. "Cards. Using the TV remote. Masturbating."

Kitty sprayed the water she was drinking over the table and Warren patted her on the back to help her to recover from choking on the rest of it.

"Try not to make a mess," Gambit said. "Don't want the cards to get wet."

"Wow Rogue," Kitty said, staring at her friend in shock. "You never used to say stuff like that."

"Remy's a bad influence on me," Rogue replied and tossed a chip neatly into the centre. "Okay...opening with 1."

"I make good girls go bad," Gambit joked. "I'm waiting for the day she says that in front of Logan though."

"Call," said Sam.

"It'll never happen," Kitty said. "And if it does happen, we'll probably have Cajun shish-kabob for dinner. Call."

"Probably. Daddy's little girl, eh chérie?" Gambit teased her.

"Raise 5," said Warren. "Rogue can never do any wrong."

"Glad you noticed," Rogue grinned at him.

"Call," Betsy said. "I have rather noticed that you—and Storm—both have Logan wrapped around your little fingers."

"We get him alternate weekends," Rogue joked.

"You raise a good point," Gambit considered. "I should start taunting Logan about being emasculated and ruled by the women in his life. Call."

"Are you looking to get yourself killed?" asked Sam, staring at him.

"Call," Rogue said, adding to the chips in the middle. "I haven't decided if Remy is suicidal, stupid, an attention seeker or just insane."

"Call," Sam said, shaking his head at Gambit. "I'm going for all four options there."

"I like to keep him on his toes," Gambit grinned. "After all, no one else has the guts to."

"Call," said Kitty. "That's because we like to keep our skins intact, Remy."

"I'm still alive, aren't I?" Gambit said.

"For now," Warren said ominously.

"Hmm," Rogue considered, looking at her cards. "One thanks, Squeaky."

"Why do you and Logan persist on calling me that?" Gambit asked, sliding over the new card to her.

"Oh, so he-who-likes-to-annoy-others doesn't like it when the tables get turned on him?" Rogue smirked at him.

"Three cards please," Sam said.

"I'm not annoyed by it. It's just a really out of date nickname," Gambit replied as he traded Sam's cards.

"Whatever you have to tell yourself," Rogue replied.

"I'll have two thanks, Remy," Kitty said.

"I'm really looking forward to giving you your birthday present, Roguey," Gambit said mildly.

"You're going through with the threat to buy me lingerie, aren't you?" Rogue asked, her eyes narrowed.

"Not until you get those D's back, chère. And even then, not in front of Logan," Gambit nodded. "I think he would actually stab me for real if I did that. Warren, you trading?"

"Nope, I'm good. What do you say we make this the last round, and then go watch the video of Bobby?" Warren asked.

"Sounds fine by me," Gambit said.

"One thanks, Remy," Betsy said.

Gambit traded his own cards and Rogue opened the next round with a raise.

"It nice to know that some part of you is normal and actually fears Logan," Kitty said to Gambit.

"Call," Sam said.

"I'll let you in on a little secret, Chaton," Gambit said. "Logan's really an old softy."

"Psh, yeah right," Kitty snorted. "Call."

"No, he is," Gambit insisted. "See, he pretends not to, but he actually likes kids and feels for people and—I know you're not going to believe me—but he cries at weddings."

"Okay," Rogue said. "The first two I'll believe, but that last one is a filthy rotten lie."

"Raise 20," Warren said. "Yeah, Logan doesn't cry. He just gets angry and dices stuff up."

"Fold," said Betsy.

"Raise 40," Gambit said and grinned at Warren. "See? I told you that you wouldn't believe me."

"Raise 80," Rogue said. "Sometimes I suspect he was born without tear ducts."

"Hmm," Sam said. "Getting a little rich for me. I fold."

"Same," Kitty agreed. "I fold too. Didn't Logan cry when Jean died?"

"Actually," Rogue considered. "He probably did, just where no one could see him."

"Told you so," Gambit said smugly.

"Nuh-uh," Rogue shook her head. "You said he cries _at weddings_."

"Call," Warren said, sounding a little uncertain.

"Why wouldn't you cry at weddings?" Betsy asked, a slight smile on her face.

"I love weddings," Kitty sighed.

"Raise 150," Gambit said. "He did. I saw him."

"Raise 200," Rogue said, pushing the chips into the pool. "Are you sure they were tears? It could have just been the light."

"Nope, they were definitely tears," Gambit nodded sagely.

Warren tapped a chip on the table, made a sucking noise with his tongue and finally said "Fold" and turned his cards over.

"I raise 250," Gambit said.

"If you guys keep raising, we're never going to get to Bobby's video," Warren said.

"So, Remy?" Kitty asked. "Are you going to tell us about this supposed wedding?"

"Not 'supposed'," Gambit insisted. "It actually happened. There he was, all ready to marry Mariko, and she ditched him."

"Whoa..." Kitty said, wide-eyed. "Logan nearly got married once?"

"I remember that," Rogue said softly. "Now that you mention it, I remember seeing that in his memories. Not the crying part. The ditching part."

"Well, that's not really crying at a wedding as in sentimental about weddings," Betsy pointed out. "Geez, I'd cry too if my fianc_é_ left me at the alter."

"That's our Remy," Rogue said dryly. "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story. All in."

Gambit gave a low whistle as Rogue pushed her entire collection of chips into the centre.

"You must be confident," he teased her.

"Yep," Rogue nodded.

"I think you're bluffing."

"Yeah? How much do you wanted to bet on that?"

"Interesting words coming from you, given that I have enough chips to call your bet and have change."

Rogue just grinned at him. Gambit considered her for a moment.

"Okay chère," he said. "How about you and I make this real interesting and put up some real stakes?"

"Oh yeah?" Rogue asked and raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

"A favour. Redeemable at any time."

"What kind of favour?" Rogue asked suspiciously.

"Anything we want."

"Oh reeeeaaaaallly?"

Gambit grinned at her and put his hand over his heart.

"I promise I won't ask any sexual favours when I win."

"Who says you're going to win?" Rogue demanded.

"Me. You're bluffing."

"Hmph, shows what you know. A favour, anything within reason, to the winner of this round, hmm?" Rogue said cockily. "Yeah, I can go with that, seeing as how I know I'm going to win. So, Kitty, do you think getting Swamp Rat over here to call Logan "Cutie-Pie" for a week counts as within reason?"

Kitty giggled.

"Done," Gambit smirked at her, pushing in enough chips to call the bet. "Ladies first."

"Read 'em and weep sucker," Rogue said, turning her cards over. "Eight, seven, six, five, and get this, five."

Gambit snickered.

"See?" he gloated. "I knew you were bluffing."

"Yeah, let's see what you've got, hot-shot," Rogue demanded, pointing her finger at him.

Gambit turned over two of his cards, revealing two threes.

"My pair outdoes your pair," Rogue said smugly.

"Not done yet," Gambit smirked at her. "You see, I also have this four, and this Jack, and oh, what's this? Another four."

"Aww crap."

"Two pairs beat one pair, Roguey."

"Dammit."

Gambit chuckled.

"All right then," he said, addressing the table. "Let's pack up and then watch Bobby embarrass himself."


	26. Asking for Trouble

**Chapter 25: Asking for Trouble**

"You must be Mr Norton," Storm said, stepping out of the front door and onto the driveway. "I'm Ororo Monroe."

"A pleasure to finally speak to you in person, Ms Monroe," Mr Norton replied with a pause in his critical gaze across the mansion to address Storm properly. "I have always thought the Xavier Mansion was a beautiful place."

"And I know that Professor Xavier thought very highly of your talents," Storm replied. "And your discretion."

"Of course," and Mr Norton patted the cylinder container in his hand. "I have taken the liberty of making some preliminary designs. You wanted expansion of all existing wings and additional escape routes to suit. You also wanted to expand the existing dining hall and library."

"That's right. It's nice to know you were listening," Storm smiled. "I'd love to see what you have."

"Shall we take this to your office then?" Mr Norton inquired.

"It's such a lovely day, I think it would be a shame to waste it," Storm replied and gestured down the path. "The gazebo is tidy and out of the wind."

"Wherever suits you," Mr Norton conceded and followed her down the path. "I would also like a tour of the estate so I can take pictures of the existing architecture and make sure I match it in the expansion."

"Of course. Whatever you need."

* * *

"Okay," Logan said, frowning slightly as Rogue headed down the hall to Gambit's room in her pajamas. "I know you told me this was going to be an overnighter, but this is the first time you've worn just your pajamas."

Rogue shrugged.

"More comfortable," she said. "I wish you wouldn't worry so much. It's only a movie. Okay, well, actually it's a few movies, but whatever."

"The movie part I don't mind. It's you alone in a _bedroom_ with Squeaky for hours on end that bothers me," Logan grumbled. "Why can't you just invite someone else in, sometime?"

"You'd have to ask Remy that," Rogue replied with a shrug. "It's his room. 'Night Logan. See ya in the morning."

Rogue knocked on Gambit's door and pretended not to notice Logan's eyes on them as Gambit opened the door and invited her in. Gambit gave a wave to Logan as he closed the door, choosing to make it more of a 'good night' wave than a cheeky 'ha, I have your daughter in my room' wave.

"Cute pajamas," Gambit grinned at her as the door clicked shut.

"Aww thanks," Rogue smirked at him as as she sat up on the bed. "Y'know, One of these days we're going to have to use those massage oils your family gave me for Christmas. Maybe during the summer. I think Storm and Logan are planning to go away again."

Gambit chuckled, getting up on the bed next to her and taking off his shirt.

"Don't you just love all this sneaking around?" he chuckled, lying down beside her.

"No, not really," Rogue drawled as Gambit rolled on his stomach. "I mean, if we were dating I could understand Logan being anxious, but we're not and it bothers me that he gets so pent up about us being friends."

"Maybe we should start dating for real," Gambit joked. "That way Logan's worry will be justified and we get Kitty and everyone off our backs."

"Yeah, I don't think so," Rogue replied as she got to work on his massage.

"Aww chère, if I didn't know better, I'd say you didn't like me," Gambit said then sighed happily. "That feels good."

"That's nice to know," she smiled. "I have no intention of dating you or anyone else just because other people think we are or should be together."

"I get that."

The conversation dissolved and Gambit laid there and enjoyed the feel of Rogue's hands on his back. He'd love to feel those hands do some massage on other parts of his body. He smiled to himself, thinking he should probably curtail those thoughts before he actually said it aloud one day and scared her off or something.

Time came for the swap and as always Gambit turned his back while Rogue made herself comfortable. When she gave the go ahead, he turned back and was momentarily surprised when he discovered there wasn't a bra to undo, and she was lying on top of her pajama shirt. In hindsight, he wondered why he was surprised, given that Rogue had told him she hated wearing bras.

"Well now," he said slowly. "Nothing for me to undo? That's no fun."

Rogue chuckled.

"Try not to get too excited," she taunted him.

"Oh it's far too late for that," he teased her as he began giving her the massage. "It occurs to me you're probably not wearing underwear either."

Rogue laughed.

"Well, now we're even. Like you ever wear anything under your pants."

"Oooh," Gambit said scandalously. "Have you been looking?"

"I doubt I'd see anything of interest if I did."

"You sure of that? You don't want to have a look to make sure?"

"I'd need a magnifying glass."

"Well, at least I shouldn't have any problems fitting inside your tight—"

"Hey!"

Gambit chuckled. The massage continued in companionable silence with the occasional moan or sign from Rogue when Gambit's hands hit just the right spot. He'd like to hear her moan his name while doing a few other things—and there goes his mind again. Problem was that the average girl reaches her adult body by fifteen, with room for a few minor developments between then and twenty. Given her claim that she had been a bit of a late bloomer, Rogue didn't quite match her nineteen year old photos yet, but she was certainly getting close. It sure didn't help that boys reach their sexual peak at sixteen or seventeen (although if you talked to Logan, then Gambit never came down off that peak).

"There you are, chère," Gambit said. "I'll just put _The Terminator_ on and get the popcorn."

"Okay, thanks Remy," Rogue replied.

She waiting until his back was turned, then sat up and pulled her pajama top back on, doing up the buttons quickly. By the time Gambit turned back with popcorn and drinks, she was sitting cross-legged near the end of the bed.

"Thanks," she said.

"You're welcome," Gambit replied, sitting up next to her.

He pressed the 'play' button and the movie began. The movie was just over halfway when Rogue finished her drink, and she got up to trade in her empty can for a new one. The bin was right next to the minifridge and when she opened the door, the light from the minifridge lit up the bin. Rogue smiled as she dropped the can in, seeing Gambit's latest Playboy magazine sitting there, still in its plastic. She was always finding them in there, and wondered if there was a way she could broach the subject to Logan in the light of not renewing the subscription for Gambit's next birthday without Logan getting the wrong idea. It was obvious to Rogue that despite what people—including herself—might say, Gambit didn't even open the magazines. For a little while she had been worried he had been serious about using her bikini photo despite his assurances that he was just looking for a reaction, but the photo remained in a drawer with the other ones, still in the same condition she gave it in.

Rogue opened up the new can, took a sip then put it on the small table next to the bowl of popcorn and Gambit's drink. She laid down on the bed on her stomach, her side brushing briefly against Gambit's. He was still shirtless, but that was no real surprise. Unless it was a cold night, he rarely put his shirt back on. She'd never admit it to him, of course, but she was secretly glad. He had these nice broad shoulders and a droolworthy set of muscles. Granted a lot of the guys at Xaviers had nice muscles (all that working out), but Rogue had decided that Gambit's were nicer than usual. Especially now that he wasn't quite as scrawny as he was when he first regressed to thirteen.

Gambit got up to change the movies over and Rogue took a break to visit the ensuite. When she came back out again, Gambit was lying on the bed with his head sitting up on a pile of pillows. Rogue giggled at the sight and joined him. He wrapped one arm around her and with his free hand started the next movie.

So they watched the rest of the Terminator movies together; Rogue happy to be in his arms, Gambit happy to have her in his arms, and neither prepared to actually admit that to the other.

* * *

"We should go watch something," Jubilee decided. "Just us singlies."

"Yeah, why not?" Sam said agreeably. "Anyone know what's on at the cinema tonight?"

"I'll check," Warren said, pulling up the internet on his handheld.

"Where is everyone tonight, anyway?" Tabitha asked.

"Well, Kitty and Pete are on a date," Jubilee said. "Rogue and Remy are having a movie night."

"Logan's pacing up and down the hall every half hour, sniffing at Remy's door for hormone levels," Angelica giggled. "Storm is telling Logan to stop worrying so much and eventually she'll lay down the law and go: If you walk out that door one more time, you're not coming back in here tonight."

"We have the boobs and the vagina," Tabitha chuckled. "We're in charge."

"It's not fair, is it guys?" Bobby sighed. "The girls get two play toys—or three if you count each boob individually—and we only get one. So greedy."

"They are, aren't they?" Sam agreed.

"Are you considering your testicles to be part of the whole penis package then, and not individual toys?" Tabitha asked curiously.

"Am I the only one disturbed by this conversation?" Jubilee inquired.

Warren cut in then with the list of what was showing that night and at what times. They mulled it over and eventually everyone agreed on the comedy. As the next session wasn't far away, they decided to head off. Different ones—Warren included—headed back to their rooms to change or get coats (Logan wondered why a couple of them snickered after they saw him coming down the hall).

Warren probably took the longest, given that he had to strap down his wings first (he hated doing that). As he hurried down to the garage to meet the others, he collided with Betsy.

"Oh…sorry," he said apologetically, reaching out a hand to help her back up again.

"It's fine," Betsy replied, ignoring his hand and standing up on her own, frowning slightly at him. "Going out?"

"Yeah, a bunch of us are going to the movies," Warren nodded.

"Ahh. So you hide your wings," she stated.

"Well, it's a little uncomfortable, but then, so is sitting on any chair with a back," Warren shrugged. "Besides, I don't like the staring."

"The humans aren't going to get used to us if we keep catering to their sensitivities and hide all the time," Betsy replied.

"That's easy for you to say. You get paid to have people stare at you," he pointed out, resisting the urge to snap at her.

"Your wings are beautiful, Warren," Betsy said softly. "You shouldn't have to hide them. You should be proud of them."

There was an odd silence and Warren looked away uncomfortably.

"Anyway, I should get going. The others are waiting," he said finally.

"Okay. I shall see you tomorrow then," Betsy replied, inclining her head.

They started to walk past each other, then Warren turned and looked back at her.

"Betsy?"

"Yes?" she asked, turning her head around to meet his eyes.

"Would...would you like to come with us?" Warren asked and then told her what they were planning on seeing.

"I wouldn't want to intrude," Betsy replied.

"It's no intrusion. Just us 'singlies' as Jubilee called us," Warren said with a slight smile. "C'mon, it'll be fun."

Betsy hesitated, then finally nodded.

"I'll just get my jacket," she said.

* * *

Gambit walked proudly into the dining hall on the morning of Rogue's birthday wearing the shirt that she had bought him for Christmas—"Remember my name: You'll be screaming it later"—at which Logan rolled his eyes. Behind Gambit's back he held Rogue's birthday present.

"I love that shirt," Rogue giggled as he approached.

"That's good, chère," Gambit grinned at her. "Seeing as how you were the one who gave it to me. Happy second fifteenth birthday, chère."

"Why thanks," Rogue giggled as he kissed her cheek.

"Present!" he grinned at her, bring out his hand from behind his back.

"Hmm," Rogue said, cynically, holding the flat, floppy present in her hands. "I wonder what this could be."

Gambit grinned at her while she unwrapped it. Rogue laughed as she read the slogan on the black shirt.

"What does it say?" asked Tabitha, who was sitting nearby and trying to see it from where she was.

"You've been a Naughty Boy. Go to My Room," Rogue read.

"Well, since you insist, Roguey," Gambit said cheekily, starting to move away.

Logan grabbed Gambit by the arm and pulled him back. Rogue giggled.

"I like it," she said. "But I'm worried if I wear it around here I might end up with some boys in my room. Remy."

Gambit chuckled.

* * *

On one particular day, getting close to the end of the school year, Gambit got out of a shower after another early morning solo session in the danger room. Let's see, what did he have on today? Not much, come to think of it. He was on kitchen duty, but that was for dinner tonight, and other than that... he just had his French class actually. All they had was a test. Now that was going to be boring. Sitting around in complete silence for a whole hour.

It was then that Gambit got his Brilliant Idea. A huge grin filled his face while he dressed and then he picked up his phone and dialled Storm's number. As expected, he got her voice mail:

_"You have reached Storm. I can't come to the phone right now, but please leave a message after the tone, and I will get back to you."_

"Hi Stormy," Gambit said cheerfully, locking the door to his room, then making his way to the balcony. "Just letting you know I've decided to partake in the time honoured tradition of skipping school. My class only had a test today, and the test papers are locked in the top drawer. I'm sure you'll have no problems retrieving them. Just get one of the flunkies to sit in. Maybe Betsy, she has nothing to do. Oh and by the way, I'm on my way to Roguey's room to con her into coming with me. See you at dinner!"

Gambit chuckled and hung up. He pocketed his phone, thought better of it and put it back in his room instead. Then he climbed off the balcony and into the adjoining ones until he reached Rogue's. The sliding door was locked, and he decided to do the polite thing (for once) and knock (seeing as how she was the nude sleeping type).

So he knocked.

And knocked.

And didn't stop knocking.

His knuckles were starting to get rather sore by the time that Rogue finally pulled the curtain open. She stared at him with grumpy expression on her face and a sheet pulled up to her chest. She glared at him, unlocked the door and opened it just a crack.

"What the hell are you doing here this time of morning, Squeaky?" she demanded.

"We're skipping school today, Roguey," he replied cheerfully, slipping his foot into the crack of the door.

Rogue stared at his grinning face.

"Skipping school," she repeated.

He nodded eagerly.

"Remy, we can't skip school. We have responsibilities. Also, I'm going to kick your ass for waking me up," Rogue replied tiredly.

"As long as you're wearing that," Gambit responded cheerfully, edging his way into her room. "C'mon Roguey! It'll be fun. Plus, I've never been to school before so I've never been able to skip class before. I wanna skip class."

"Go away," Rogue replied, grumpily as she tried to close the door on him.

"Please come with me?" he asked, neatly avoiding her attempts to shut him out and getting into her room after all. "I'm going to go anyway. Besides, I already called Storm and told her I was taking you with me."

"You told Storm you were cutting class?" Rogue questioned, giving him an odd look.

"What? I'm not completely irresponsible," Gambit replied cheerfully, making himself at home on her bed. "It's Tuesday right? That means you're stuck with Logan all day in the danger room. You can't tell me that you don't want to skip six hours of danger room sessions. It's not like you actually do anything other than watch."

"That's not the point," Rogue replied irritably. "Make yourself at home why don't you?"

"Don't mind if I do," Gambit said, leaning back, legs spread and deliberately running his eyes over her. "Nice view by the way. The thin sheet look works for you."

"If Logan knew you were in here right now," Rogue said darkly, "let alone trying to entice me to play truant with you, you would be a dead man. And one way or another he's going to find out. Okay, I don't know if you realise this, but when teachers skip class _people notice_."

"So?" Gambit asked with a shrug. "Did you want to go like that, or will I pick out your clothes for you?"

"Remy..." Rogue sighed.

"We can have breakfast out," Gambit said cheerfully. "We can have hot croissants. I love croissants, especially hot ones. And we can, I don't know, go to the mall, or wherever it is that kids go when they skip school."

"I really don't think this is a good idea," Rogue replied, adjusting the sheet around her.

"You still owe me a favour," he pointed out slyly.

"Within reason. A favour _within reason_," Rogue snapped, glaring down at him.

"Tell me Roguey, have you ever skipped school before?"

"Well, no. But I don't see how—"

"Neither have I," Gambit said cheerfully. "Ahh, the pitfalls of homeschooling right? C'mon Roguey, live a little. Okay, you're right. We probably will cop it when we get back. What are they going to do? Assign early morning danger room sessions? I already do that."

"More like it'll be extra chore duties."

"Big deal."

"Remy—"

"Okay Roguey, okay," Gambit said as he stood and made his way over to her. "If you really don't want to go, then you don't have to come with. I just wanted to spend the day with you, is all."

Rogue caught her breath and looked up at him as he slipped his hands onto her hips over the sheet.

"I need to get dressed," she said finally and lifted one hand to point at her ensuite door. "In there or on the balcony until I'm done, and if I catch you peeking, Swamp Rat, there will be no skipping school, only pain."

Gambit chuckled, took the hand that was pointing to the door and kissed it gently.

* * *

**AN:** I had so much fun writing the next few chapters *rubs hands together gleefully*. In fact, I feel the need to start a countdown: 5


	27. That L Word

**AN: **

Countdown: 4

One of my hobbies is collecting funny shirts. I have so many now, I've lost count, but there are a number of shirts that I'm just not brave enough to buy myself, let alone wear. Mostly because half the people I know, including myself, are a bunch of smart-alecs and thus wearing those kinds of shirts is highly dangerous, hahaha. Anyway, so something I like about fiction is giving the characters all the shirts I don't get myself, hehehe. Especially the ones that are male-oriented! The point of telling you this is that all the funny shirts you read in the story do actually exist. I even own some of them. Hehehe.

On a side note, it looked pretty much unanimous that Remy should ask a different favour of Rogue later, so this thing I shall do.

I think Storm is my favourite character in this chapter, hehehe.

* * *

**Chapter 26: That L-word**

By the time they arrived at the cafe, Rogue was actually rather pleased that Gambit had persuaded her to go. It was nice being out of the mansion, even nicer enjoying breakfast with just him. Sure there were plenty of other people also enjoying breakfast at the cafe, but it seemed so much more personal than in the dining hall. They ordered croissants and hot chocolates, and sat at a table for two by the window. Rogue sipped her hot chocolate and put it back down on the saucer with a sigh.

"Okay," she conceded. "This is nice."

"Glad you approve," Gambit grinned back at her. "And technically we're not even skipping class yet."

Rogue giggled softly. After breakfast their next stop was one of the malls. This particular one was further away from Xaviers than those which they usually went to, however, Gambit decided it was less likely that anyone would go looking for them there. Additionally, there was a park nearby that they could visit which was just a walk away from the mall. This meant less time on the motorcycle. Rogue pointed out that there was still a longer travelling time on the motorcycle getting there—and getting home again—but Gambit dismissed her concerns and if there were any police on the roads, none had any reason to pull them over.

With her hand neatly curled up in his, they dawdled through the mall. They stopped at one shop when Gambit noticed funny slogan shirts through the window.

"Hey chère," Gambit said, holding up one he pulled off the rack. "What does this one say?"

"Stop staring at my boobs," Rogue read, looking up from the rack of shirts she was going through. "And touch—hey!"

"No," Gambit shook his head. "That last word is 'them' not 'hey'."

"I am not wearing that shirt," Rogue said, glaring at him. "And unless you want Logan to slice and dice you into itty bitty bits, you will not get me that shirt either."

"Or at least, I won't give it to you where he can see me," Gambit teased her.

"There we go," Rogue said pulling out another shirt with an arrow pointing down. "Here's one for you."

"Free petting zoo," Gambit read. "Is that for me to wear or you to wear?"

"Oh and I like this one," Rogue went on, ignoring his comment and pulling out another shirt. "Next mood swing, 5 minutes."

Gambit snickered.

"Hey Roguey," he said gleefully, holding up a shirt against himself. "I'm naked under my clothes."

Rogue giggled as she read those same words on the shirt.

"What a coincidence," she said. "So am I. Oh here we go."

"I distrust that tone," Gambit said in suspicion of her delighted voice.

"MENtal anxiety, MENtal breakdown, MENstrual cramps, MENopause," Rogue read. "Did you ever notice how all out problems start with MEN?"

Gambit snickered.

"This is a great shop," he said. "Hey Roguey."

"Yeah?" Rogue asked, looking up once more from the rack to see the shirt he was holding up.

"I can only please one person a day. Today isn't your day. Tomorrow doesn't look good either," Gambit read to her.

Rogue giggled and held up another shirt too: "Actually, yes, the world does revolve around me."

"Now this one I like," Gambit grinned at her, holding up another shirt: "Boobies make me smile."

"Now there's an obvious statement if I ever heard one," Rogue drawled.

"I'm getting it," he decided. "You want the breasts one?"

"I told you no."

"Damn."

"Hey Remy," Rogue said, holding another shirt with a cocky grin on her face. "But how can I miss you, if you don't go away?"

"Yeah..." Gambit drawled. "I've decided, we're not leaving here until you've picked out a shirt too. May I recommend this one?"

"Boys will be toys," Rogue giggled as she read the shirt Gambit was holding up for her. "How about this one for you? Just your style, don't you think: Dream Date. When you wake up I'll be gone."

Gambit went quiet and returned to looking through the racks. Rogue looked at him curiously.

"Something wrong?" she asked finally.

"Well... I just..." Gambit hesitated, then shrugged. "Actually, I've decided to give up on the one night standing. Y'know, when I get back on the dating scene."

"Ahh," Rogue replied, putting the shirt back on the rack. "Sorry. I just thought it was funny."

"Well, it is," he conceded. "I just wouldn't wear it."

"Fair enough. Oh look, I've found one I want," she said delightedly, and picked out the shirt in her size. "Whatcha think?"

"Yes! But not with you," Gambit read, then laughed. "I like it. And I'm sure Logan will approve too."

Rogue giggled. They finished going through the rest of the shirts, then bought the two they'd picked out. The two continued on their idle wandering around.

"Ooh look Roguey," Gambit said, pointing gleefully. "Victoria's Secret. Do I get to buy you something black and lacy today?"

"Well, the shirt's black," Rogue pointed out mildly.

"It's not lacy though."

"True. Very well."

"...You serious?"

"Sure. You can buy me a lacy ribbon," Rogue grinned at him.

Gambit laughed. They stopped in at an arcade and played games until lunch time, when they stopped in at the food court. At this point, they decided to go visit the park, so they left their new shirts in the carry bag for Gambit's motorcycle. Much to their disappointment, the park proved to be one of those that didn't have any fun play equipment, just lots of green grass, flowers, trees, a picnic area and a fountain.

"Aww," Rogue teased him. "Don't worry. You can play on the monkey bars at home."

"Yay!" Gambit cheered childishly.

Rogue giggled. Gambit grinned wickedly.

"You know," he said slyly. "There are other games we can play."

"Like what?" Rogue asked, amused. "Tag?"

"Sure why not?" Gambit asked and tapped her on the shoulder. "You're it!"

"Hey!" Rogue protested as Gambit took off.

"Can't catch me!" he yelled back at her.

Rogue growled (Logan would have been proud), then raced after him. He dashed behind a tree and duck to one side when Rogue tried to follow, then went around the other side and a good minute or so was spent peeking at each other on either side of the tree. Then Gambit took off again, laughing madly.

Rogue stopped running after a bit and considered: what was she doing running after a guy who's mutation gave him an effectively endless supply of energy? It had been a while since he'd 'run out of juice' in the danger room. Clearly, since she couldn't catch up with him, she needed to outsmart him. As his back was to her, she took a moment to duck behind a couple of bushes at the bottom of a tree. A smirk appeared on her face as she saw Gambit turned around and realise he'd lost sight of her.

"Oh Roguey!" he called. "Are we playing hide and seek now?"

She was well aware that Gambit wasn't stupid, but fortunately for Rogue there were plenty of 'hiding places' in between them. Rogue just waited while he was inspecting one nearby, just before he would get to her, and as soon as his back was turned she jumped out, whacked him on the back and yelled "Tag!" even as she ran off again.

Gambit chuckled as he was pushed forward slightly by her 'tag' and grinned after Rogue's retreating figure.

"Playing dirty, are we chère?" he called after her, even as he began to chase her around the pack.

It didn't take long for Gambit to catch up, and when he did he danced about her and the fountain a bit before slapping her behind with a cry of "Tag!" in chorus with Rogue's "Hey!" and took off backwards, grinning broadly at the indignant expression on her face.

"You come back here, you long-haired lout!" Rogue yelled.

"Why? Whatcha gonna do?" he teased her. "Slap _my_ butt? Wait, why am I running then?"

Gambit stopped, turned around and patted his own behind, grinning back at her.

"All yours chère."

"I am not going to slap your butt," Rogue said with dignity.

"Aww," Gambit said with a pretend pout. "Why not?"

"Because you want me to," she replied seriously as she walked towards him.

"See this chère? This is an unhappy butt. It was so looking forward to feeling your hand on it," he nodded sagely.

"Oh was it now?" Rogue drawled, drawing up close to him. "Poor baby."

"Oui," Gambit nodded, turning to face her properly. "That's what I thought."

The wind blew Rogue's hair across her face and Gambit reached out his hand to tuck it back behind her ear. Then he realised just how close Rogue was to him and it was almost as if everything started to move in slow motion. The way the sun shone on her brown hair made it look like gold. Her eyes glittered like emeralds, her skin felt soft against his fingers, and her lips were full and luscious. His breath came out ragged as Rogue slid her hands up his chest and as he leaned forward to kiss her—

Splash!

Rogue giggled at the sight of Gambit eagle-spread in the base of the fountain. She was rather impressed she actually managed to pull that off. She was so sure he was going to figure out what she was about to do—apparently not!

"That wasn't nice, chère," Gambit grumbled.

"Wasn't supposed to be," Rogue smirked at him.

"Hmph," he grumbled and held out a hand. "You gonna just stand there or are you gonna help me out?"

"I'm gonna just stand here," she nodded.

"Typical," he muttered.

Gambit picked himself up out of the fountain and Rogue stepped backwards away.

"What?" he asked.

"Like I'm going to get close enough to let you push me in there," she smirked.

"Well, you would deserve it. I'm all wet," Gambit said as he attempted to wring out his clothes.

"Yes you are," Rogue replied, pretending not to notice the nice way his wet shirt clung to him. "Don't be such a big baby. It's a hot day, I'm sure you'll dry soon enough."

"Yeah? Why don't you come over here and give me a hug?"

"Not likely."

Gambit looked at her and snickered. At least his feet had managed to stay out of the water. He would have hated walking around the rest of the day in wet shoes. Rogue stood there, grinning back at him and the most horrible thought occurred to him:

He was in love with her.

No! That was _not_ in the plan. He was not supposed to fall in—that L word he didn't dare to think—with Rogue. The plan was that he and Rogue would be lifelong friends and no matter what happened he'd always take care of her, weed out the unworthy boyfriends, and beat the snot out of anyone who hurt her. Okay granted Logan seemed to be trying to fill that role himself, but Logan wasn't the one who had screwed up Rogue's life in the first place.

"Truce?" Rogue offered. "We can just walk around for a bit while you dry off."

"Sure," Gambit replied.

He finished wringing out as much water as he could then took her hand out of habit. He barely stopped himself from groaning aloud. Logan was right; he had to stop spending so much alone time with Rogue. No good could come of this. His ability to hold down a serious, romantic relationship was severely lacking and while he wanted to get past that, he sure as hell didn't want to start experimenting with Rogue. He valued her far too much to want to risk breaking her heart and hurting her.

They started walking around casually and between the heat of the day and the heat naturally caused by the bio-kinetic energy he generated, Gambit began to dry rather quickly. Maybe he should let slip to Logan about the massage sessions on their movies night. Logan would put a stop to that real quick. No wait, he couldn't do that. That would make Logan the bad guy and he wasn't going to ruin Rogue's relationship with him. Maybe he should move back to New Orleans instead and rejoin the Thieves Guild.

"Hey Remy?" Rogue said casually.

"Oui?"

"Wanna go back to the mall in a bit? We should get some new movies to watch," Rogue grinned. "I have this urge to watch _Eraser_ again. I haven't seen it since... whenever was the last time it came on TV."

Gambit chuckled.

"Yeah, we can do that," he said.

"Great."

Gambit smiled back at her, while inwardly he felt like he was crying. He wasn't going to move back to New Orleans and he knew it. He actually liked being at Xaviers, Storm was counting on him to continue teaching, but most of all he couldn't stand the thought of moving away from Rogue.

He'd just have to stay on his guard from now on.

* * *

Tabitha was stuck on office duty when the buzzer went off, altering her to the gates opening. The name of the owner of the code that had just been put in flashed up on the screen: Gambit. Tabitha snickered to herself and dialled Storm's number.

"Hi Storm? You wanted me to let you know when Remy and Rogue got back? Well, they're just coming through the gates now."

"Thank you Tabitha," Storm replied. "Buzz them when they get to the garage will you, and tell them to come see me immediately? And no, Remy may not use the excuse that he's on kitchen duty to put it off."

"Will do," Tabitha chuckled and the connection cut off.

Tabitha watched the motorcycle's trip from the gates to the garage and then hit the intercom button once they were inside.

"Oh Ro-ogue! Reemmmy!" she said in a sing-songy voice. "As soon as you shut off that bike and take off your helmets I want you to reply to me, got it? Yoohoo, I know you're in there. Yes I do. And you are in soooooo much trouble. C'mon, how long does it take to park anyway? No, you may not ignore me—"

"Aww, why not petite?" asked Gambit.

"Remy! I hope you two had a lovely time," Tabitha said gleefully. "Storm wants to see you two in her office, pronto."

"Oui, we had a great time, thanks for asking," Gambit replied cheekily. "But I can't go straight away, I'm on kitchen duty."

"Yes, Storm figured you might say that. She said you can't use it as an excuse."

"Darn, there goes that plan. Oh well, we'll just drop off our purchases on the way."

"Oooh you went shopping? What did you buy?"

"Désolé, can't chat. Stormy's expecting us, remember?" Gambit teased her.

Rogue giggled as Tabitha made a rude noise.

* * *

Storm was looking out the window, her arms firmly folded across her chest when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," she said with cold sternness.

She heard the door open and one set of footsteps, obviously Rogue. As usual, she couldn't hear Gambit (how he managed to walk so quietly she would never know).

"Sit," she commanded in that same cold tone.

She heard the movement of chairs being pulled out and sat on. There was silence and she deliberately drew it out. Finally, she turned around. Gambit was watching her with a highly amused expression on his face—typical. Rogue, on the other hand, had the grace to look shame-faced and avoided her gaze.

"You wanted to see us?" Gambit asked when still Storm said nothing.

Gambit's amusement started to fade as Storm continue to look at him. It wasn't an angry glare or a scowl, but disappointment and disapproval in her face, and it was only then that it occurred to Gambit that he may have taken things too far. Storm was obviously—to Gambit—severely pissed off, and the only saving grace was that there wasn't a thunderstorm raging on outside.

Storm waited until Gambit finally looked away from her before she spoke again: "Just what made you think that _skipping school_ was a good idea?"

Silence.

"You're teachers here. You're supposed to be setting an example for the students. Tell me, what message are you sending them when you cut class?" Storm demanded. "That it's _okay_? That it's acceptable behaviour?"

"Désolé, 'Ro," Gambit said sincerely. "You're right. I wasn't thinking."

"No, you weren't," Storm replied coldly. "Double chore duties for the next _month_ for the pair of you. And in your 'spare time' you can clean, polish and wax the Blackbird, inside and out."

Gambit bit back a smart remark about if she really wanted them to wax the carpet.

"Honestly Remy. Sometimes I suspect your middle name is 'Trouble' not 'Etienne', but even then I didn't think you'd stoop to this," Storm said, then turned her eyes to Rogue who was fidgeting nervously in her chair. "And Rogue, I'm very disappointed in you. I expected much better behaviour than this from you."

"I... I'm sorry Storm," Rogue said meekly.

Storm sighed and half closed her eyes.

"In fact it's that much unlike you, I'm almost inclined to believe Remy used his hypnotic charm to persuade you, although that doesn't speak well of Remy's ethics," Storm went on, turning her head back to Gambit then, who was now sitting stock still. "Perhaps I should enroll you in the mutant ethics class next year."

"Hypnotic charm?" Rogue repeated.

Storm glanced at the genuinely puzzled expression on Rogue's face, then looked back at Gambit, who avoided her gaze and was looking rather uncomfortable.

"You didn't tell her," Storm stated.

Gambit coughed uncomfortably.

"Well, uhh, you know me," he replied tentatively. "I wish _I_ hadn't been told."

There was a long silence, during which Rogue looked between Storm and Gambit curiously.

"Remy has a secondary mutation," Storm said when Gambit didn't. "The Professor called it 'hypnotic charm', because Remy could psionically enhance his charming self to convince people to believe him and do anything he wanted."

The colour drained from Rogue's face as she turned to look at Gambit.

"Have you been manipulating me?" she demanded. "This whole time?"

"It's passive, chère. I have no control over it," Gambit replied.

He was going to say more, but it occurred to him that this was it. This was how he could end things with Rogue before they went too far. He could end the massages and the movie nights, the dancing as well—all those things that had been tempting him for the last...who knew how long when he was writing off what he was feeling as a hormone-amplified physical attraction.

"A couple of years after I first came to Xaviers," Storm explained. "I finally convinced Remy to come visit in the hope he might decide to join us. Apparently the Professor caught Remy trying to 'charm' him, and after they got past the misunderstanding that Remy was trying to manipulate him on purpose, he helped him figure out the nature of the ability."

"Oui, and as far as I know," Gambit said briskly, determined to get the words out before he chickened out, "it's on all the time. So oui chère, I have been manipulating you. You and everyone else."

Storm frowned at Gambit in surprised confusion.

"I see," Rogue said quietly. "If you don't mind, Storm, I'd like to be excused."

Rogue didn't wait for an answer, instead she stood and walked out, slamming the door in the process. Gambit winced at the bang and avoided Storm's gaze.

"Remy," Storm asked slowly. "What was that about?"

"Need to face facts, 'Ro," Gambit replied, trying not to think about what he just did. "I manipulate people without even trying. No ethics class is going to be able to cure me of that."

"Okay Remy," Storm demanded, her eyes narrowed at him. "What aren't you telling me? That's not all there is to it, and you know it."

"There's nothing to say," Gambit insisted, starting to get up. "I'm needed in the kitchen."

"Sit down," Storm commanded, enforcing the order with a gust of wind, and moving around to the front of the desk where she stood in front of him. "You aren't leaving here until you tell me what's going on."

There was nothing but silence for a good five minutes.

"We can stay here all night if you want to," Storm said. "But one way or another you will tell me why you _deliberately_ hurt Rogue."

Still more silence followed.

"I'm no good for her," Gambit said finally. "Logan's right, she needs to stay away from me."

"No good for her," Storm repeated incredulously. "That's... Where'd you get an idea like that? Today's incident notwithstanding, I rather think that overall you've been very good for Rogue. Even Emma agrees and we both know what she thinks of you."

"No," Gambit replied, shaking his head. "You don't understand—"

"Then enlighten me."

"I... I lo-" he stammered. "I that-L-word her."

Storm blinked.

"What L-word?" she asked, then answered her own question, her eyes widening at the realisation: "You _love_ her?"

Gambit traced his fingers over the lines in the arm of the wooden chair he was sitting in. He opened his mouth to reply, then closed it and nodded. Storm sat on the edge of the desk and frowned down at him.

"What is it Remy?" Storm prodded him gently. "Are you so afraid of love you have to push her away?"

"I'm not afraid, I'm just..." Gambit closed his eyes and sighed in frustration. "The more I'm with her, the more likely it is I'll act on it. I nearly kissed her today, 'Ro! And I can't... I _can't_ go down this path, not with Rogue. I'll just end up hurting her and breaking her heart. That's the way all romantic relationships end with me. Well, most of them anyway. And it's not that I don't want something serious long-term—I do but... I need to figure out what I'm doing wrong, and I can't do that with Rogue. I can't use her like a guinea pig."

Storm let out a long, slow breath.

"Let me get this straight. You want a serious, romantic, long-term relationship but you want it with someone you don't actually have feelings for so you can figure out why you can't hold down a serious, romantic, long-term relationship," Storm said giving Gambit an odd look. "Now, I could be wrong about this, but I think the 'no feelings for' part might be the problem."

"That's not what I mean," Gambit replied, finally lifting his head and rolling his eyes at Storm.

"I don't know, Remy, it sure sounds like it to me," Storm said blandly.

"I know I can't expect to have a long-term relationship with someone I don't have feelings for. I just don't want to go there with _Rogue_ in case it doesn't work out," Gambit said. "She's far too important to me, 'Ro."

"So instead of _maybe_ breaking her heart at a later date, you deliberately do it now?" she asked quietly. "Seems to me you just did exactly what you were afraid of doing."

Gambit was silent for a long moment, then swore under his breath. Storm cracked a smile.

"I'm glad we had this little chat," she said. "Now, you'd better hop down to the kitchen and get cooking. Try not to get too distracted thinking up ways to make this up to her. I wouldn't want dinner to get burnt."


	28. Consequences: Part 1

**AN: **

Countdown: 3

What is it a countdown to? A chapter I was very excited to finally be able to write, that I'm very excited about sharing with you, and something I know you're eagerly anticipating :D

Can I be any more vague?

Probably.

I think I need to work on the dirty talk. Actual dirty talk, that is, not innuendo. I'm just not happy with it even after writing the stupid paragraph fifty-gadzillion times. Meh. Oh well, I hope you guys like this chapter all the same.

It's possible I exaggerate.

* * *

**Chapter 27: Consequences: Part 1**

The kitchen doorway was darkened by a short, yet imposing figure. The growl that emerged from his lips was enough to send the students rostered on as kitchen hands scurrying to the side, and become deeply engrossed in whatever task Gambit had assigned them. Gambit lifted his head just in time for Logan to grab him by his shirt (no collar) and pin him up against the wall. A 'snikt' hailed the emergence of his claws, and Logan aimed them right at Gambit's head.

"Give me one reason," Logan demanded, "why we shouldn't be having Cajun shish-kebob for dinner tonight."

"Because it wouldn't go well with the sushi," Gambit replied evenly.

"Sushi," Logan repeated.

"Oui. California roll, Philadelphia roll and Louisiana roll," Gambit answered, then added thoughtfully: "Actually, Cajun shish-kebob might go okay with the Louisiana roll if you used crawfish or blue crab. There's also salmon over rice for those who like their seafood to be a bit more cooked than that, steamed vegetables and for you a bottle of Molson Dry, chilled to perfection."

Gambit brought his fingers to his mouth, then pull them away again, opening his hand with a "mwah!"

"That's my beer," Logan glared at him.

"Oui, I just told you that," Gambit replied, pretending to misunderstand.

Logan growled, but finally let Gambit go.

"You're lucky I like sushi," Logan said pointedly.

"Actually I'm lucky I was on cooking tonight," Gambit replied cheerfully. "I've known you liked sushi for a long time now."

"What made you think that skipping school would be a good idea?" Logan demanded, still glaring at him.

"Well, it seemed like one this morning," Gambit replied with a shrug as he went back to work. "Hindsight not so much. I... I hadn't reckoned on Storm seeing it as a betrayal of her trust, and for that I am very sorry. Yours too."

"And of course," Logan went on, not at all inclined to let Gambit off the hook just because he had the decency to apologise. "You just _had_ to drag Rogue down with you."

"I like her company," he replied shortly.

"Well, I hope you enjoyed her company a whole lot today, because you'll be lucky if I let you within ten feet of her again."

"I don't think you need worry too much about that, mon ami," Gambit said quietly. "She found out about my secondary mutation today."

Logan frowned slightly. "You hadn't already told her?"

"Logan, I wouldn't have even told _you_ if you hadn't gotten me drunk."

"Heh, that was a good night," Logan snickered. "I'm assuming it didn't go well?"

"I hope you'll let me close enough to try and fix things up," Gambit said. "I didn't explain things very well."

"Were words escaping you, o' elegant one?" Logan taunted him.

"Logan, I have the ability to," Gambit paused, noted the kids in the kitchen and lowered his voice, "manipulate people without even thinking about it—"

"Which is good for you, seeing as how you never think."

"That conversation is never going to go well," Gambit finished, ignoring Logan's jibe. "I assume you haven't spoken to her yet?"

"I was going to see her after I beat the snot out of you," Logan nodded.

"Could you do me a favour..." Gambit said, turning to a page ripped from a notepad on one of the benches. "And give this to her? You can read it if you want."

Logan looked over his shoulder as Gambit wrote a final line on the page and handed it over.

"It's just me explaining about my secondary mutation," Gambit explained as Logan glanced at what was written. "I thought that if I wrote it down, she wouldn't have be afraid I was... you know."

"Huh," Logan said, lowering his hand and looking back at Gambit's unusually anxious face. "So Squeaky, why don't you give me one good reason why I should help you? If Rogue's angry with you, that means no more movie nights and no more dancing lessons together. I have to say, that combination makes me rather happy."

"I'll give you three," Gambit replied. "One, no one likes Rogue in a temper—not even you. Two, if Rogue doesn't keep her mouth shut before she gets all the facts, some people around here might get the wrong idea about me. Three, Stormy wants me to fix things."

Logan grunted and walked off without another word. Gambit grinned to himself. Rogue would cool down, and worst case scenario, Gambit would just leave; but there was no way Logan was going to risk getting on Storm's bad side.

* * *

When Rogue heard the knock at her bedroom door, she knew instantly that it was Logan. No one else knocked that firmly. With a sniff she was up off her bed and unlocked the door. She didn't meet Logan's gaze as she held the door open for him to come in.

"I'm sorry I ditched you today," Rogue said.

Logan grunted, ignored the mess on her normally tidy floor (clearly she'd been throwing things in a rage again) and noted the scent of saltwater—as if the tear-stained cheeks and puffy red eyes weren't enough proof that she'd been crying.

"Next time you want a day off, Stripes, give me some notice and we'll see if we can work something out," he said finally.

"Okay," she replied quietly. "L-Logan?"

"Yeah?" Logan asked as he sat down on the edge of her bed.

"Did...did you know about Remy's hypnotic charm?" she asked, finally looking up at him.

"Yep."

"Is that why you were so worried?" Rogue asked, shifting nervously from foot to foot. "Y'know about he and me being... being friends."

Logan narrowed his eyes.

"He didn't persuade you to do anything he shouldn't, did he?" Logan said suspiciously. "He never touched you or conned you in touching him anywhere inappropriate?"

"No, no," Rogue shook her head and sat down next to Logan.

"Good. I've never known him to be that type, but..." he shrugged. "Under the circumstances I don't know how desperate he is to get laid."

"Well, nothing like that has ever happened between us," Rogue assured him. "I just... It's been over a year—almost two—and I thought I was getting to know him pretty well. But now... it was all a lie, wasn't it? Everything we had... None of it was real."

"Hmph," Logan grunted. "I see he was right about you not getting the whole story. Here's a trick to knowing when he's gone and charmed you: if you find yourself asking why you did that after it's done and he's left the room, it's usually reason to go after him and beat him into the ground. Of course, that's not completely foolproof as sometimes you ask yourself that about things that had nothing to do with Squeaky, but it works for me. I suspect just knowing he can do it helps you resist it."

"So...it doesn't always work?" Rogue asked slowly.

"Nope," he replied, fishing Gambit's letter out of his pocket. "He wrote you a letter. Now, even if you don't read this, I think you should frame it or something. The Cajun doesn't usually write letters."

Rogue giggled a little as she accepted the letter.

"Did you at least enjoy yourself today?" Logan asked.

"Yeah. Oh! I should show you my new shirt," Rogue said, getting up and grabbing the bag (where she had previously thrown it against the wall with a very unsatisfactory impact).

"Yes! But not with you," he read aloud as Rogue held the shirt up. "I approve."

* * *

_Rogue,_

_I hope that you give me a chance and read this. I didn't tell you everything in Storm's office and I'm hoping that writing this down will persuade you that I'm telling the truth. After all, if I'm not in the room, you can't accuse me of using my power on you to make you believe._

_As I said, my hypnotic charm is passive and it's on all the time, but it's not always successful even when I do deliberately try to charm someone into something. It's so subtle that the people I'm trying to manipulate have to actually want to do what I'm trying to get them to do, at least a little bit._

_For example, I can't walk up to some random guy on the street and tell him to jump off a cliff. Well, I could, but they probably wouldn't do it. I have to sweet-talk them and even then it probably wouldn't work unless they were suicidal or planned to do it with a parachute or something._

_After all this time, it's probably safe to say I have manipulated you on more than one occasion, and for that I'm sorry. Please believe me when I say I have never done so deliberately or maliciously._

_Remy_

Rogue put the letter down after rereading it for the fifth time that night. What was he saying? That he only ever manipulated her into doing things she wanted to do in the first place, but it was okay because it was an accident? She had an uncontrollable power too, and never once did she think it was _okay_ she put David into a coma for three weeks, or Bobby into a coma for two _months_. They were accidents too and you didn't see her making excuses. Oh no, she was honest. She told people and warned them off touching her skin. She took precautions so that there wouldn't be any more accidents. It wasn't okay!

Rogue was interrupted from her stewing by a knock on the door.

"Roguey? It's Remy."

Rogue pressed her lips shut. She did not want to talk to him right now.

"I brought you dinner," Gambit went on when there was no reply. "When you didn't come down, I thought you might be hungry."

Gambit sighed when there was still no reply.

"I hope you're actually in there," he added lightly. "Otherwise I'd feel like a big idiot talking to an empty room. There times to have Logan's sense of smell, no?"

There was no answer, but Gambit thought he heard movement.

"So, umm, I guess I'll leave this—" the door swung open and Rogue looked at him with smouldering fury "—here."

Just as Gambit was trying to figure out what to say, Rogue opened the door wider. Past her he could see the jewellery box he had given her lying broken on the floor. He closed his eyes and looked down.

"You've got five minutes to convince me you're not playing puppetmaster with my life," Rogue said shortly, moving away so he could come in.

"Puppetmaster?" Gambit repeated, his head shooting back up. "Rogue, you're no puppet."

"I had better not be," Rogue replied darkly, slamming the door shut as Gambit stepped inside.

"Rogue, I," he paused, looked around for a place to put the tray, and ended up placing it on the dresser where Rogue had been keeping the jewellery box. "I didn't even know I had this ability until Professor Xavier caught me using it on him. Until then I had always thought I was just naturally charming, not _super_naturally charming. And believe you me, I wish it was the former."

Rogue said nothing, merely stared at him with her arms folded across her chest.

"And yeah, okay," Gambit went on, turning back to face her and shoving his hands in his back pockets. "I admit after finding out I did go a little crazy trying to manipulate people. It was like this shiny new toy and I learned a lot from that but... Well, it's great for work, but not so good for personal relationships. A lot of people get angry and upset when they find out you can manipulate them without even thinking about it."

"Gee, I wonder why," Rogue said sarcastically.

"If I could turn it off I would," he told her seriously. "It sounds like a great ability to have, but it's really the pits—"

"Oh woe is Remy," she cut in scornfully.

"You know you're not making this any easier," Gambit said mildly.

"Oh I'm sorry," Rogue said cynically. "You see, I was under the impression that you were my friend. Now I find out you've been manipulating me on a psionic level this whole time. Just how much of our so-called friendship is a lie?"

"None of it, I hope," he replied stonily. "You might seem to recall when we first met we were both Cured. We were like old friends right from the start. There was no hypnotic charm involved."

"And after that?"

"I've learned to become very careful in what I say to people. The words are important. See, I could say 'climb up that tree', or I could say '_will you_ climb up that tree?'" Gambit explained. "One is a command, the other is a choice."

"But it's not just getting them to do what you want, it's also getting them to believe it," Rogue reminded him. "Everything you're saying to me is a statement, to get me to believe what you're saying. Why should I?"

"Because you're questioning whether you should believe me or not."

Rogue grew silent. Gambit approached her and took her hands. She looked down at their clasped fingers.

"See, I had hoped that the letter would explain things and that it would be enough," he said sincerely. "Because right now, I really want you to believe me and I really want to make things right. And if the part of you that wants to believe me is stronger than the part of you that doesn't, then odds are you're being manipulated right now, and I hate that. I hate that because it means I'm the one making the decision, not you. I love my family and friends and I want them to be who they are and not...not puppets, as you say. One of the things I liked about travelling is that this thing doesn't work over the phone or over the internet—too great a distance—so I could have a conversation with someone I cared about and not have to worry about that. I don't know. Maybe I shouldn't have tried to have this conversation in person. I'm sorry."

He started to pull away but Rogue didn't let his hands go. She lifted her head and their eyes met.

"Remy, we spend time in person _all the time_," she pointed out. "You can't be leaving the room every time we go to have a serious discussion. It doesn't work that way."

"D'accord," he replied quietly. "What do you want to do?"

"I need to know I can say 'no' to you," Rogue said seriously. "I accept that you can't control it and that you try to avoid incidences. But I _need_ to know that, worst case scenario, I can still make my own decisions."

For a moment Gambit was silent, then the closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Would you accept it if I deliberately tried to manipulate you into doing something we both know you don't want to do? As in, saying 'no' to that, as proof?" he asked finally.

"Yes," Rogue replied.

"Please don't hate me for this," he sighed, then opened his eyes and brought her hand to his lips and then—much to Rogue's surprise—kiss her hand, her elbow, her shoulder and finally her collar-bone, nuzzling her neck with his nose.

"Remy?" she exclaimed, then shivered as he whispered into her ear: "I want you."

Abruptly she realised one of his hands was on her hip, his thumb running circles while his other hand traced unseen patterns on her back. He started to kiss her neck, mostly because he really didn't want to look her in the eye right now.

"I want to feel your beautiful naked body under mine," he whispered into her ear between kisses. "I want to kiss every inch of your skin. I want to mould your perfect breasts and roll your nipples around with my tongue. I want to lick my way up your legs and pay homage to your womanhood."

Rogue gasped softly. Her breath quickened and she could feel her body pulsate with every stroke of his fingers and every kiss he laid on her.

"You make me hot," he whispered, his voice deep and sensual. "I want to make love to you over," he kissed her, "and over", another kiss, "and over again."

Gambit closed his eyes, painfully aware of how well Rogue's body was responding to him. He wanted to cry. This was not how he wanted to do this. Well, for that matter, he didn't want to do this at all. Perhaps he should have taken a different tact, but it was the first one that came to mind. He fought to keep his voice steady as he whispered the four words that would hail the moment of truth: "Have sex with me."

Rogue's gasp this time was a lot louder and for a moment all she wanted to do was throw herself at him and let him do all the things he said he wanted to do with her. As she caught her breath, the moment passed. It did take a little longer before she was actually able to verbalise: "No."

Gambit pulled away and sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes closed once more and his head facing the floor. Rogue stood on her own for a moment longer, then strode purposely over to the open balcony door and stood deliberately in the breeze.

"Damn, you're good at that," she said as she leaned against the screen. "I think I need a cold shower."

Normally Gambit might have laughed at that, but he was too busy feeling sick.

"Remy?" Rogue asked softly, when neither had spoken for a time. "What...what would you have done, if I'd, umm, if I'd thrown myself at you?"

"I would have left," he replied matter-of-factly. "I'm not going to date rape you."

"Date rape,' Rogue repeated with a blink. "Well, I... You... I didn't think of it that way."

"Believe me, I have," Gambit said bitterly. "Here's the thing, chère. In order for my hypnotic charm to have any impact on someone, they need to be receptive. In order to get a one night stand, _they need to be receptive_. I have to be so careful in what I say. One slip of the tongue, one wrong word and I may as well have slipped something in their drink. I _hate_ this power. The only hope I have is that it was something Stryker did that made me unable to switch it on and off, because if this is a truly passive power then..."

As Gambit trailed off uncertainly, Rogue got on the bed beside him and wrapped her arm across his shoulders.

"Why didn't you just tell me all of this before, in Storm office?" Rogue asked. "Y'know, instead of just saying you've manipulated me? Hell, for that matter, why didn't you tell me earlier? Storm and Logan both know."

"Storm knows because she was there when I found out—although granted I probably would have told her anyway," Gambit explained. "I'd never any intention of telling Logan. He found out because we decided to having a drinking competition. He won, by the way. Emma knows because she's a high-level telepath and has 'caught' me using it on her although she doesn't believe me when I tell her I'm not doing it on purpose. I told mon père, Henri and Mercy. I never knew what Père thought, but Henri and Mercy both freaked. The only other person I ever told was... Her name was Melissa. We were serious, and although she was fine with me being a mutant she completely freaked out when I finally told her about my secondary mutation. It's very hard to work up the nerve to tell people about a power you hate yourself, let alone one that triggers a nasty breakup. I don't tell anyone."

Rogue nodded slowly.

"Okay," she said.

"Okay," Gambit repeated.

"I'm gonna have to sleep on it. This is an awful lot to take in, Remy."

"I know."

"But... I'd like to get past this, if we can," Rogue said seriously. "I _like_ being your friend, Remy. We've been getting on pretty well together, and today was fun, even if we did do the wrong thing. No one else I'd rather to do the wrong thing with. Well, except maybe Logan."

Gambit chuckled softly.

"I'm still mad at you for not saying so earlier," Rogue went on as she made her way over to the dinner tray. "Just so you know."

"Noted," he replied, his eyes moving to the broken jewellery box. "You know, chère, if you'd given up trying to find the secret compartment, you could have just said so."

"Hmm?" Rogue glanced up from the sushi, looked at the jewellery box and a flash of embarrassment appeared on her face. "Uhh, yeah, sorry about that. I was angry. I was angry at you, and I have this tendency to throw things when I get mad."

"Désolé. I'll get it fixed for you," he said, getting up off the bed and moving to the floor to pick up the pieces.

"You don't have to do that," Rogue replied quickly. "I was the one who broke it."

"I was the one who made you angry," Gambit pointed out. "I want to. Besides, I'm the one who knows where to take it to get it fixed."

"Point taken," she conceded. "Thanks for dinner."

"Thanks for being so understanding."

"I think it would be highly hypocritical of me to criticise you for having an uncontrollable power you regard as a curse, when I have one of those myself. I just... I need a chance to deal, okay? I'm a lot more open about mine than you are of yours, so..."

"And you should have heard it from me, not from Storm," Gambit agreed, standing up with all the pieces in his hands.

"Yes, I should have," Rogue nodded.

"Désolé. All I ask is that, whatever happens, you don't spread this around."

"Not my secret to tell."


	29. Consequences: Part 2

**AN:**

Countdown: 2

* * *

**Chapter 28: Consequences: Part 2**

_Gambit kissed Rogue's neck from earlobe to collarbone and back again. He lay between her open legs, his hands massaging her breasts with vigour. Rogue ran her hands over every part of his skin she could reach; he felt so good beneath her fingers. He lifted his head and his lips approached hers..._

Bzzzzt!

Rogue's eyes shot open, she frowned and with a frustrated bang, hit the button on the alarm clock. She could almost feel the dream of Gambit's touch still on her body and in annoyance she pushed the covers back and made her way to the shower. It wasn't the first time she'd dreamt of Gambit, although it was the first time she'd dreamt something quite that intense. Probably a result of the evening before. Rogue hoped it would pass. She wasn't really sure she could face Gambit if she started having sex dreams about him on a regular basis. As to that, she sure as hell didn't want Emma or Betsy seeing those kind of images in her head either. Thank goodness her check up wasn't until tomorrow. Hopefully the dream would be long forgotten by then.

If she was honest with herself, Rogue could admit she liked Gambit quite a lot. More than the 'friends' status she insisted was the case. Which it was. It wasn't like Gambit could be interested in her at all, not that way. Well, okay given his history with women he probably could be interested, but Rogue found it highly unlikely they'd be looking for the same thing. Gambit, Rogue decided, was not the settling down kind. It was a shame really, because he was quite good with his family, and she could see him with one of his own.

Nope, best she keep a tight lid on this stupid crush as much as possible and hope she'd get over it. That was the scariest thing about finding out about his hypnotic charm. The idea that he could enhance her wants to the point where she'd actually act on them scared her a great deal. What if he decided he did want to make out with her one day? Rogue decided she was relieved that Gambit went down the seducing route last night, even if it did have the side-effect of hot dreams (amongst other things). Now she knew that she could resist and say 'no' if things went too far, and more importantly, that he'd respect her decision.

Rogue finished her shower and dried off. Actually, now that she thought more about it, she realised she'd let her anger get the best of her. If she had bothered to stop and think about it, she would have realised she already had proof she could say 'no' to him. They'd had all sorts of disagreements. Mostly trivial, but many was the time she'd put her foot down on some new antic of his, or he'd relent and they'd watch the movie she wanted to see and lots of other stupid stuff like that.

Rogue walked back out to the bedroom and walked over to the dresser, opening up her underwear drawer. It was then that she saw on the surface next to the emerald pendant Gambit had given her for Christmas there was also a CD she didn't recognise. She lifted it up and read the hand-printed text on the cover: "Remy's Favourite Songs". She chuckled softly and turned it over, seeing a list on the back of all the songs along with which track number they were. This must have been the present in the secret compartment.

* * *

Jubilee was grinning at Rogue as she sat down at the table for breakfast that morning.

"What?" Rogue asked.

"You skipped school yesterday," Jubilee said gleefully. "With _Remy_. Little something going on there, eh eh?"

Rogue rolled her eyes.

"You are seriously going to have to get over your obsession with us dating," Rogue said, shovelling her spoon into her cereal.

"Alternatively," Jubilee replied merrily, "you two could finally admit you're crazy about each other and actually start dating. Officially."

"Just what did you two get up to yesterday?" asked Kitty delightedly.

"We hit the arcade and the park and did a little shopping," Rogue replied. "That's all."

"Did Remy buy you something black and lacy like he's been threatening to for the last year?" Tabitha asked.

"He bought me something black," Rogue said dryly. "A shirt that says 'Yes! But not with you'. Incidentally, the shirt he bought for himself says—"

"Boobies make me smile," Angelica said.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Rogue asked.

"Because he just walked in wearing it," Angelica replied, pointing to Gambit, who was indeed wearing his new shirt and had joined Storm, Logan, Hank, Emma, Betsy and Evelyn at their table.

"Didn't take him long," Rogue snickered.

* * *

"Huh," Rogue said to herself as she entered the hanger after classes were over that day. "Blackbird's cleaner than I thought."

"Roguey? That you?" Gambit asked, looking down on her from atop the Blackbird.

"Hey sugar," Rogue smiled. "Hard at work already, huh?"

"Ha, I skipped my usual early morning danger room session and got started on this instead," Gambit dismissed.

"Well, that explains it. But y'know, you didn't... I mean we were both given this task. Now I feel bad that you've done so much more than me."

"Nah," he dismissed with a wave of his hand. "I only need five hours of sleep these days and I don't have nearly as many classes as you. Why don't you get started on the inside?"

"Okay," Rogue agreed.

Rogue headed inside and surveyed the cabin before deciding that the best place to start was cleaning out the cupboards. The two worked in silence for the next couple of hours before calling it a day. After climbing down from the top of the Blackbird, Gambit rotated his shoulders and his back, attempting to work out the kinks from having been hunched over for so long.

"Here," Rogue said with a slight smile, putting her hands on his shoulders and digging her thumbs into his back. "How's that?"

"That's nice, chère," Gambit sighed. "Merci."

"You're welcome. Also, you need to stop growing," she joked.

Gambit laughed.

"Aww, but I'm only six foot, Roguey. I need at least two more inches," he teased her.

"Need or want?" she retorted merrily. "You want a proper one?"

Gambit sighed as Rogue took her hands away and turned to face her. He wanted to tell her yes. He really, really wanted to say yes.

"As tempting as that idea is, Roguey," he said—she had no idea how tempting—"I don't think it would be wise to further antagonise Logan right now by him smelling you in my room."

"Yeah, good point," Rogue conceded. "Oh, umm... Remy, I just wanted to apologise."

"Apologise?" he repeated with a slight frown. "Whatever for?"

"Well, for asking for proof yesterday," she said, looking down at the ground. "That was stupid of me. If I'd bothered to think about it properly, I would have realised for myself that I was never a puppet. I mean, if you'd been playing me like a fiddle all this time, we would have been watching movies you wanted to watch, and none of the ones I did, and you would have won all our arguments and stuff like that. I'm sorry I put you in that position."

Gambit reached out and cupped her face in his hand, lifting it so that she was forced to look at him. He rubbed his thumb gently over her cheek.

"Rogue," he said softly. "I hated doing that to you, and I won't lie about that. Right now, though, I'm just glad you're still willing to give me a chance. It's more than...than what happened last time I told someone about this."

Rogue smiled and wrapped her arms around him. Gambit's arms automatically went around her and she hugged him fiercely, and he tried not to think about how much he wanted to just stay there holding her.

"Now it's my turn to think you for being so understanding," she said softly. "You know, we fight over some really weird crap sometimes."

Gambit chuckled softly, feeling a mix of relief and disappointment when she pulled away.

"Oh, and uhh, thanks for the CD," Rogue added. "I notice there was a lot of Hugh Boynton songs."

"What can I say?" he shrugged. "I'm a fan."

"I gathered," she smiled.

"Of course, you realise what this means, don't you?" Gambit nodded. "I'm just going to have to put something else in the secret compartment when it gets fixed, seeing as how you didn't find it the proper way."

"Any excuse," Rogue teased him. "Another CD?"

"You'll just have to find the secret compartment to find out, won't you?"

* * *

On Thursday, Rogue arrived to her check up on time as always. She made herself comfortable and cleared her thoughts as best she could while Emma and Betsy entered. While the telepaths both appreciated that Rogue made the effort not to bother them in this manner, thought process was unavoidable. As always, the two prepared themselves for the inevitable, and entered Rogue's mind.

_"Remy has a secondary mutation," Storm said. "The Professor called it 'hypnotic charm', because Remy could psionically enhance his charming self to convince people to believe him and do anything he wanted."_

_Anything he wanted? She looked at Gambit, fury and horror building up inside her._

_"Have you been manipulating me?" she demanded. "This whole time?"_

_"It's passive, chère. I have no control over it," Gambit replied._

Emma caught her breath, but had no chance to contemplate what she's just seen before the next memory swam past.

_Rogue felt the breeze at her back, trying not to think about how hot he'd just made her. Her eyes were on Gambit's as he spoke:_

_"In order for my hypnotic charm to have any impact on someone, they need to be receptive. In order to get a one night stand, _they need to be receptive_. I have to be so careful in what I say. One slip of the tongue, one wrong word and I may as well have slipped something in their drink. I _hate_ this power. The only hope I have is that it was something Stryker did that made me unable to switch it on and off, because if this is a truly passive power then..."_

Emma and Betsy were silent as they made it through the storm of thoughts and recent memories, and finally reached the centre of Rogue's mind where her mutation was developing.

"You know the drill," Emma said matter-of-factly.

Neither woman said a word as they inspected Rogue's recent development, taking mental notes on anything that may have changed since their last check a week ago. They finished in due course and pulled out, once again bracing themselves for the trip through the storm.

_Rogue watched Gambit leave with the broken jewellery box and the dinner tray. She frowned and looked around her room, anger and sympathy warring within her. She began to pace._

_"Okay, Logan said if I ask myself why I did that, then it's a sign I've been charmed...but I'm deliberately asking myself the question so does that even count?" she asked herself. "I was going to give him a piece of my mind, but I didn't do that 'cause I felt sorry for him. Does that mean he charmed me? He did say it was possible..."_

_Rogue looked down and discovered her hand on her breast. She glared at it._

_"I need a shower," she muttered to herself. "A really cold one."_

"Thank you, Rogue," Emma said, her voice crisp as she emerged. "Everything looks fine. You may go."

"Thanks, Emma," Rogue replied, giving a nod to each in turn. "Betsy."

The room was silent as Rogue departed. Betsy had already pulled out a sheet and was mapping out the mindscape. After a moment, Emma proceeded to do the same, but it was hard for her to concentrate. Gambit had always been hard for her to read, so she could never confirm his story that the low-level psionic field about his mind and the pulses it gave off were beyond his control, even on those few occasions where his shielding was weak enough for her to get in. She wasn't entirely certain she could believe that what he was telling Rogue was even the truth, although it did match what he had tried to tell her in the past.

Betsy finished her mindscape and waited patiently while Emma put the finishing touches on hers. As usual, the two were compared and Emma nodded her approval. Betsy's mindscapes were certainly improving.

"Betsy," Emma said as the younger telepath got up to leave.

"Yes?" Betsy inquired, turning around to look back at Emma.

"Remy told Rogue something in confidence," Emma said pointedly.

"Have I ever blabbed before?"

Emma inclined her head. Betsy nodded and departed, leaving Emma with a lot to think about. Emma had to admit, she had gotten to know Gambit rather well through snippets of Rogue's memories—much better than she ever had in her own personal experience. The man that Rogue had fallen madly in love with (even if she was in denial about it) was vastly different from the man she had known for over twenty years and Emma wasn't sure what to make of that.

It had been almost a year since he'd given her that bouquet of white roses. Flowers which she had thrown out the moment his back was turned. She didn't trust one word of his speech, yet in the last year he had been nothing but polite to her. Sure, there had been a few incidences, a couple of slips—no one could change their habits overnight. But if actions spoke louder than words, Gambit had been screaming. Emma ruefully admitted to herself that she even missed the sexual gratification he gave her at random intervals. More than once she had tried to pry such a response from him, but to her frustration, got no such reaction.

Emma let out a long breath. If Gambit was actually being honest about not being able to turn his hypnotic charm on and off, then she was the only one here capable of helping him, and he would never ask her. There was too much history, and despite his change in attitude towards her, Emma sincerely doubted he trusted her any more than she trusted him. She debated with herself, wondering if she should pursue the matter or let it be.

Well, as she had said to Betsy, Gambit had told Rogue something in confidence. Regardless of the fact that everyone knew that Emma and Betsy dipped into Rogue's mind quite regularly, Emma wouldn't breach the confidence that Rogue had in her: that she would respect the privacy of her mind. She was able to decide quite easily that she wouldn't open the subject with Gambit, but perhaps it was time for her to come to the party. Gambit had made the first step in declaring peace, now she should do the same.

Besides, Gambit should definitely come to her. He'd never believe that she'd want to help him, and would decline any offer she made, suspecting an ulterior motive. That was just fine with Emma. She'd hate for anyone to think she was capable of compassion. It would completely ruin her carefully cultivated bitch persona, and she couldn't have that.

* * *

4:30 in the morning saw Gambit in the danger room.

"Computer:" he said. "Run program...Gambit Twelve."

"Initiate override: Wolverine Thirty-Two," said the computer.

"Say what?" Gambit questioned.

The landscape in the danger room altered to reflect a city dump instead of the city scape that Gambit had been anticipating. Before him, Logan's image appeared.

"Hi Squeaky," Logan said. "You know what I like about you? You always get in the danger room nice, early, and voluntarily so I don't even have to get out of bed to torture you. This is a little program I call The Swarm. It's an exercise in endurance and it will go for exactly one hour. No, none of your command codes are going to work while the program is running. You can't open the doors, stop the program or change the difficulty. Which, by the way, had been set to eight, just because I'm feeling generous. Have fun."

Logan's image disappeared.

"Have fun, he says," Gambit muttered under his breath as he extended his staff. "Level eight for an _hour_ is him being _generous_? I knew he let me off for skipping school with Rogue way too easy."

He heard the sound of movement behind him and turned his head to look. He gave a yelp, more from surprise than fear, at the sight of a giant bug.

"Giant bug, giant dump," Gambit said. "Sure, why not?"

The battle began.

* * *

Pete was a nervous wreck, and that was putting it mildly. It was Saturday evening and he was out at the gazebo, attempting to have a romantic dinner with Kitty. Unfortunately, so far he'd knocked over his drink, hit the wrong button on the portable stereo and gotten the radio instead of playing the CD he'd put in and now the conversation was awkward and stilted. He was also starting to feel the need to fart and was wondering whether he should disappear somewhere now and let loose, or see if he could hold it in.

Kitty finished off her plate and put the knife and fork to the side.

"So uhh," she began.

"Would you like to dance?" Pete asked hurriedly.

"Oh, umm, sure," Kitty replied with a smile.

Pete smiled back, then remembered himself, stood and took her hand. With the CD playing like it was supposed to in the first place, Pete led Kitty into a slow waltz. He'd been always dubious and nervous about dancing lessons at first, but Kitty really loved it, and after a few lessons he began to enjoy it as well. He loved holding her in his arms.

As the song came to an end, Pete took both Kitty's hand in one of his hands and knelt on the ground before her. His free hand reached for his jacket pocket. Kitty caught her breath.

"Katya," he said seriously. "I love you and I..."

Kitty fought to keep the smile off her face as Pete seemed to have trouble pulling the jewellery box from his pocket. She bit down on her bottom lip and finally Pete managed to pull the small case free.

"Katya," he said again. "I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"

He opened the case and held the engagement ring before her. Kitty's eyes were only on Pete as she nodded.

"Yes," she said. "Yes, I'd love to marry you."

Pete's face lit up with a huge grin as all the nervousness instantly faded away. He took the ring from the box and threaded it onto her finger, then stood up and wrapped his arms about her waist. Kitty wrapped hers around his neck, and they kissed, softly, Pete even going so far as to lift her up so her feet were a foot above the ground. He put her back down again after a warm and enthusiastic embrace and caressed her cheek softly.

"Katya, I..." he began, then looked at her helplessly. "I have uhh, have to go. I'll be back in a second."

"Okay," Kitty replied.

She smiled (when did she stop smiling?) as Pete hurried downwind, knowing full well why he was running off. Then she did a little happy dance complete with squeal of delight. She was engaged!


	30. Officially Approved

**AN: **

Countdown: 1

* * *

**Chapter 29: Officially Approved**

"Sitting with us again, Remy?" Emma mused at the dinner table. "This is getting to be a habit."

"Admit it, Emma," Gambit replied cheerfully as he attacked his food. "You've been missing me."

"Sure I have," Emma said dryly, reaching for her glass. "Like a pain in the ass."

"You have a pain in the ass?" he asked, his eyes wide with 'concern'. "Would you like me to kiss it better?"

"I'm sure you kiss yourself quite frequently."

Storm rolled her eyes.

"I don't want Remy hanging out with Rogue so much any more," Logan said, sounding well pleased. "Rogue never even would have considered shirking her responsibilities if it weren't for his influence."

"I see," Emma replied evenly. "And just how far is this 'not hanging out' going to go?"

"No more movie nights," Logan said smugly.

"Hmm," she considered. "Well, as long as the dancing lessons continue."

"I want those to stop as well," Logan frowned.

"No," Emma said firmly and everyone at the table looked at her. "No, the dancing has been good for Rogue. Regardless of what you think of Rogue's choice of partner, I'm trying to make sure that when her power manifest themselves again Rogue is comfortable with touching and being touched. In fact—as much as it galls me to admit it—Remy is probably the best choice of partner for Rogue."

"I am?" Gambit asked in surprise the same time Logan pointed to him with his fork and said: "He is?"

"Indeed. After all, Rogue needs to be touched," Emma pointed out. "And Remy's very good at it."

"That's what worries me," Logan replied. "He's got far too much experience—"

"And that's the very thing that works in Rogue's favour," Emma interrupted. "We only have a year left before her powers will manifest themselves, maybe a bit less, maybe a bit more. We cannot risk her therapy being jeopardised by some fumbling fool who doesn't know how to touch a woman."

Logan growled at that and Gambit looked down at his food. This was a switch. Here Gambit was trying to avoid spending so much time with Rogue and Emma was encouraging him to continue spending time with her. Why was it they always seemed to be on opposite sides?

"Just how concerned are you?" Storm asked with a frown. "Is Rogue really that badly traumatised about touching people?"

"She was very jumpy after she got the Cure in the first place," Logan admitted. "I just figured she'd get over it. Hell, _she_ thought she'd get over it."

"Rogue's doing a lot better than she was," Emma assured him. "The massage therapy in particular has helped a lot. Perhaps, I should be extending it to receiving massages as well. My main concern was with Rogue being able to touch other people, but the dancing lessons have demonstrated that Rogue also needs to be comfortable with being touched by other people. Obviously we should encourage her to dance with multiple partners, but for the learning process itself, I would recommend she stays with Remy."

Gambit paused briefly in his eating, realised he had stopped and continued as if he never paused at all. Emma knew he'd been giving Rogue massages—how couldn't she, when she was in Rogue's head every week? With Logan putting an end to movies nights, Emma was obviously looking to make sure she continued getting those massages. Blast it! The massages were half the reason why he wanted to put a stop it it.

"So, what? You're looking at getting a professional in?" Logan asked.

"I think that a professional occasionally might be a good idea, but Rogue is around friends and family more than she's around strangers, therefore it is the touch of family and friends she needs to learn to deal with," Emma replied. "You're good with your hands, Remy."

"Forget it," Logan said before Gambit could say a word. "The only massage Squeaky's capable of giving anyone is erotic. It's bad enough she's dancing with him, but if you think for one minute I'm going to condone Rogue being in the same room with him wearing nothing but a towel, you have another think coming."

"You can wear clothes when getting a massage you know," Storm said mildly.

"In Rogue's case bare back is preferable," Emma said firmly. "She needs skin-to-skin contact. Clothes are what she was using to protect herself, and as such would make the exercise redundant. Dancing helps in the being-touched aspect, but of course, it's part skin, part clothes touching, and I don't believe it's enough. Especially when we're on a deadline."

"Pick someone else," Logan said. "Preferably female."

"It doesn't have to be any one person," Betsy piped up then. "We would just have to be selective. You don't want someone who gives lousy massages to get near Rogue because then she would dread them touching her and that would defeat the purpose."

"What do you think, Remy?" Storm asked, no hint of a smile on her face as she looked at her friend. "The sooner this is added to her routine, the better, I would think."

Gambit didn't answer at first, glad that Storm's question came in time with him eating a mouthful of food. He held up his hand as if to signal "after I've eaten this" and ignored the dark glare that Logan shot in his direction. A war raged inside him. Part of him was thrilled at the idea of having a legitimate reason to continue touching and spending time with Rogue, another part sick that he wasn't going to be able to break things off after all. Still yet another all too keenly felt the debt he believed he owed Rogue, and the promise he'd made himself that he'd do whatever it took to help her gain control of her powers again. He swallowed.

"If there's anything I can do to help Rogue control her powers," Gambit said with quiet intensity. "I want to do it."

"You just want any excuse to—" Logan began.

"Logan," Storm frowned at him.

"In case you've forgotten, mon ami," Gambit said fiercely. "Rogue sedated me by putting me into a coma. She spared me having to go through that...that _hell_ for another three days, by choosing to endure it for six hours herself. She knew _full well_ that she could not be sedated conventionally for the same reason I couldn't."

"Believe me, I remember," Logan replied darkly. "I was with her for the whole six hours."

"Then you'll appreciate how important it is to me to repay my debt."

Logan glowered at him.

"One wrong move. One inappropriate touch," Logan said, pointing his finger at him. "You hurt her in any way—"

"I think she has endured enough pain at my hands as it is," Gambit cut in. "I've no intention of adding to it."

"Well, then," Storm said, interrupting the awkward silence that followed. "If you don't mind my saying, Logan, I think that forbidding movie nights seems a little redundant now."

"Redundant?" Logan repeated. "_Redundant?_ Here I am, trying to protect Rogue from the biggest womaniser I ever met in my life and you think forbidding movies nights is redundant?"

"Since you're concerned about touching, and we've decided that the dancing lessons are going to continue and Emma's going to get Remy started on giving Rogue massages from now on, then yes. After all, it's only a movie," Storm said mildly.

"Or three, or four," Gambit pointed out with a grin, all the while feeling a bit sick. After all his efforts, he hadn't managed to curtailing their relationship after all, instead it had become more officially approved and encouraged.

"He's already gotten her into trouble once," Logan said, glowering at Gambit.

"Remy talked her into skipping school," Storm replied. "It's not like he got her pregnant."

"Ha, that would look really good, wouldn't it? The sex ed teacher accidentally getting someone pregnant." Gambit laughed. "Well, someone who wasn't his wife anyway. I've noticed accidental pregnancies in marriage are generally ignored."

"Am I the only one who doesn't like any of this?" Logan demanded, looking around the table.

There was silence for a moment, then Emma caught his eyes.

"I think you have to ask yourself something, Logan," she told him. "Whether it's more important to keep Rogue and Remy separated in the short term, or to do everything possible to ensure that Rogue has control over her power in the long term. The fact that she was desperate enough to take the Cure speaks volumes to me just how important being able to touch other people is to her."

Logan grumbled. Betsy shook her head and pursed her lips, clearly holding back what she thought of that decision. She had been all set out to hate Rogue, thinking her the biggest traitor of them all, but she was finding it harder and harder not to sympathise with her situation after being in her head so many times. Then too, Rogue was always polite and pleasant to her, even knowing her opinion on the matter.

* * *

What was left of the school year went by in a flash. Soon enough those who were going home for the summer were leaving. Kitty and Pete were amongst the first to depart, first to Chicago to spend some time with Kitty's family and announce their engagement to them, and then to Russia to see Pete's. To say that Kitty was nervous about meeting her future in-laws would be putting it mildly.

"After all," Kitty said to her friends. "It's not every day that you have to go overseas to meet the parents."

Construction crews started moving in and getting to work on the expansion. Storm and Logan hung around for the first couple of weeks, and then headed off on a trip of their own. As Hank had been in on most of the planning process, he had been left in charge of the construction in case anything came up. Emma was left in charge of the school in general.

The week that Logan and Storm departed also marked the end of Rogue and Gambit's double chore duty, to which the pair were greatly relieved. What Rogue was even happier about, however, was that she no longer had to hide the massage sessions with Gambit from Logan any more. She hated hiding things from Logan like that. Naturally they celebrated their new found freedom with a movie night and a massage session (using Rogue's massage oils).

So when Rogue curled up beside him while they watched the first season of _Alias_, Gambit told himself that this was part of the plan. Helping Rogue control her powers had always been part of the plan. The main feature of the plan, in fact. He was even doing her good by not putting his shirt back on after the massage, all that skin-to-skin contact Emma said was so important for her. Then he mentally berated himself for trying to justify the fact that he was enjoying being close to her.

* * *

The jewellery box was back together and sitting in its home on Rogue's dresser. She looked at it very carefully and turned it around. This was not the first time she had tried to find its secret compartment, although it was the first since it had been fixed. Wherever the compartment was though, it was big enough to fit a CD so that did rather cut down on the possibilities.

Rogue opened up the lid. Sure on the surface it was big enough, but it wasn't deep enough. A CD case wouldn't fit in the sides, so that left the bottom. Rogue put her finger into the deepest compartment in the box and measured her finger against the wall of the box. Yep, definitely in the bottom. She closed the box up again, picked up the box and put it down on her desk at which she sat. She tilted the box and investigated its sides, looking for a seam or crack or anything that might give her a clue.

She turned it over and looked at the bottom. That seemed solid too. Rogue sighed and turned it upright again. Stupid secret compartment. Why did it have to be so darn secret?

She ran her finger along the bottom part of the wall. Just because she couldn't see a seam didn't mean there wasn't one. It wouldn't be much of a secret if anyone could find it. Unless there was no secret compartment and it was just a ploy by Gambit to trick her into wasting hours on a wild goose chase.

Wait...what was that?

Rogue ran her finger along the same spot again and sighed in disappointment when she inspected the place she'd found a groove. Of course there was a groove there. It was a part of the design.

If this was a cartoon, there would have been a whole host of lightbulbs turning on about Rogue's head at that moment. She compared that pattern to the other pattens on the other walls of the box with her finger and decided that the compartment open up the front. But how to trigger it? She tried pressing panels and sliding them (not that she hadn't tried that before to no avail), and muttered unfavourably when she couldn't get it to open.

Rogue tapped her fingers impatiently on the desk as she glared at the jewellery box. She opened it and tried pressing and moving things on the inside, but of course, the only things that would move was her jewellery (which clearly wasn't it) and the ballerina.

Actually, there was a key. Rogue pulled the key from the back of the box and experimented, seeing if it would fit any where else. It didn't—not that she had expected it to—and put it back in its place. Then she smiled and turned the key around. When she let go, the music began to play and the ballerina began to dance. Rogue liked the ballerina; it was cute. When the ballerina stopped, Rogue pressed and tried to move stuff again, but it seemed that letting the music box do its thing wasn't sufficient to unlock the compartment.

Once again, Rogue glared at the jewellery box in annoyance. There was only one thing for it.

* * *

"You!"

Gambit looked up from where he was having a game of poker with Bobby, Angelica, Warren and Betsy.

"Me, chère?" he asked, curious at the way Rogue was pointing at and coming straight for him.

"I have a secret compartment and I need you to open it." Rogue said as she closed the distance and ignored the amused glances of their friends.

"Aww, I'm flattered Roguey," Gambit replied ingeniously. "But I thought you were going to wait until you were married?"

Bobby's eyes boggled out as Rogue glared at Gambit and wagged her finger at him.

"The jewellery box, stupid. I swear you have the dirtiest mind I have ever come across," Rogue said disgustedly and grabbed Gambit's cards right out of his hand, slamming them face down on the table top. "He folds."

Angelica and Betsy snickered.

"You couldn't let me finish the round?" Gambit asked pitifully as Rogue grabbed his arm and started hauling him out of the chair.

"Well, I might have, but you had to go and make dirty remarks," she replied. "Get up you big lug."

Gambit chuckled and let Rogue pull him out of the chair.

"Y'know Roguey," he said as she dragged him away. "If you keep manhandling me like this, people are going to get the wrong idea ."

"They already have the wrong idea, Swamp Rat."

* * *

"Are you sure you want me to tell you?" Gambit asked once they were in Rogue's room.

"I've tried everything," Rogue insisted.

"Evidently not," he teased her.

"C'mon Remy. I know it comes out here," she said, pointing to the panel in front. "And I've tried everything I could think of to get it to open. I just don't know if I've found it and haven't pushed hard enough or something. I don't want to break it, umm again."

Gambit smiled.

"I tell you what," he said. "Why don't you show me what you've tried and I'll tell you if you're getting close."

"You just want to watch me get frustrated and annoyed," Rogue grumbled at him.

"But you're just so cute when you're annoyed," he teased her while flipping her hair.

Rogue poked her tongue out at him. Gambit bit back a comment about what she could do with that tongue while she had it out. Rogue then proceeded to show Gambit everything she had tried so far while he watched impassively.

"Well," he said when she was done. "You were on the right track."

"I was?" she asked in surprise. "Which track?"

Rogue glowered at him when he only grinned back at her.

"You stink," she said.

"Really?" Gambit asked, lifting his arm to smell under his armpit. "Hmm, you're right. Wanna help me shower?"

"I might have to," Rogue retorted smartly. "Obviously you're not washing yourself properly."

"Yours or mine?"

"How do you open this thing?" she demanded.

"I mean, we're already here, so using your shower is more convenient," Gambit considered, wondering inwardly why he was torturing himself with this train of thought.

Rogue glared at him in stony silence, her arms folded across her chest. Finally Gambit relented.

"The key," he said. "It does fit somewhere else."

"It does?" she asked dubiously. "Where?"

"Only one place I know of," he grinned.

Rogue sighed and pulled the key from the back of the box. She started at the box in silence, running the key through her fingers while Gambit leaned on the desk, smiling at her. When nothing happened for a few minutes, Gambit lifted the lid.

"And that's all the help I'm going to give you," he told her.

Rouge sighed dramatically, although she wasn't nearly as mad as she pretended, and began running her fingers over the felt lining. After all, touch was how she found the compartment. Unfortunately, no round grooves announced themselves to her fingers. In fact the only round groove of any kind was where the ballerina stood. Gambit grinned broadly as Rogue's face lit up.

"Does the ballerina come out?" she asked eagerly.

"Try it and see."

Rogue reached out and carefully plucked the ballerina from her post. She put her down gently, then lined up the key. It slotted neatly into place. When nothing happened immediately, Rogue slowly turned the key. Abruptly there was a click and the drawer that was the secret compartment popped open.

"Yay!" she cheered, clapping her hands delightedly.

"There you go, chère," Gambit chuckled. "I knew you'd get it."

Rogue smiled then pulled the drawer out the rest of the way so she could retrieve the CD inside.

"Remy's Favourite Dirty Songs," she read. "Do I even want to know?"

Gambit chuckled and turned it over. He pointed to the first track.

"I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight is what I had them play at my funeral," he told her.

"Remy?" Rogue sighed.

"Oui, chère?" Gambit asked, his hand finding its way to the small of her back while he peered over her shoulder.

"Sometimes I worry about you."

"Only sometimes? Darn. I need to try harder," he joked. "How's this: You know the karaoke software Jubilee has on her laptop?"

"Yeah?" Rogue replied slowly, moving her head back to lay it on his shoulder and look at him suspiciously.

"Let's just say, songs from both CDs are now in her collection."

"I'm afraid," Rogue sighed. "So very afraid."

Gambit just laughed at her.


	31. Making Beautiful Music Together

**AN:**

Countdown: 0

There's some karaoke in this chapter. I have including title and artist for those who haven't heard of the songs and want to look them up. This is not necessary to enjoy the chapter.

Oh a related vein, Maya-chan2007 suggested Cowboy Cassanova to me in a review for one of the early chapters. Look! I found a way to bring it in! Hahaha.

* * *

**Chapter 30: Making Beautiful Music Together**

On account of the expansion, the dining hall was in shambles and by extension, the kitchen as well. Meals had been moved to the ballroom. Cooking was primarily done via the portable barbecue although certain members of the facility were not beneath using mutant powers to their advantage. This practice was normally frowned upon by Storm due to its tendency to make a mess. Many main meals as a result were generally served cold (which no one mind too much, it being summer and all) and/or outside. Delivery was also an acceptable alternative.

What seemed exciting to begin with quickly became tiresome so when the dining hall and kitchen were finally finished, Jubilee decided that the best way to celebrate and christen the room was with a karaoke night. She set up her laptop and a second monitor at one end of the room and made up songs lists which she put on each table. By chance, or else Hank was thinking ahead when he made up the chore rosters, Gambit was on cooking that night. It seemed appropriate that one of the best cooks in the house would be cooking that night and he didn't disappoint, even going so far to ensure finger food after the main meal for those who wanted to enjoy the karaoke.

"Hmm," Angelica considered, going through the song list again. "What should I sing next?"

"A song," Rogue suggested.

"Yeah, that's helpful," Angelica replied dryly. "Hey, you haven't gotten up yet."

"Oh I will, I just can't decide what song," Rogue dismissed. "Besides it doesn't help that Jubes had an irrational hatred of Hanson and has refused to let me submit any of their songs. Meanwhile, I suspect half the Backstreet Boys discography is on there, and she has the gall to make fun of my taste in music."

"You like Hanson?" Tabitha questioned.

"Who's Hanson?" asked Gambit.

"I'm surprised you don't know, Swamp Rat," Rogue drawled. "They have a song called 'With You In Your Dreams' which they wrote as a tribute to their late grandmother that gets misinterpreted as being about a one night stand."

"Really? Cool," Gambit nodded. "I'll have to listen to it some time."

"I can't believe you like Hanson," Tabitha went on. "They're a bunch of girls who haven't had a hit since MMMBop."

"Oh, is that who you're talking about?" asked Angelica.

"What's MMMBop?" asked Forge, looking around.

"I rest my case," Tabitha said smugly.

"Well, they're still making music," Rogue replied. "And if you've seen a recent picture of them, then you couldn't mistake them for girls."

"Actually Taylor's a pretty boy," Betsy mused. "You could mistake him for a girl. They don't have long hair any more though."

"Yeah," Rogue nodded, grinning at Betsy. "I was disappointed when Zac cut his hair. How's he supposed to head bang on the drums any more?"

"I just like the fact that he went from a weedy little kid to a freaking tank," Betsy nodded. "Although the fact that he can still hit those high notes is a little disturbing."

"Yeah I know," Rogue agreed. "Isaac's not too bad though."

"Pity they're all married now."

"With kids."

"Yes, 'tis true."

"This is so cool," Rogue beamed. "You like 'em too. I don't have to be a closet Hanson fan any more."

Betsy laughed. The rest of the table were a little weirded out about Rogue and Betsy having something in common.

The night continued, with many getting up either singularly or in groups to sing. Gambit made some joke about there not being enough alcohol. Rogue whacked him over the head for that comment.

The real fun, according to Jubilee, happened when curfew kicked in and all the students departed for the night, barring Jones, who simply departed along with Hank, Emma and Evelyn. All that remained were Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee, Bobby, Betsy, Tabitha, Angelica and two of the four graduates from the school year just finished who opted to stay on: Roberto Da Costa, aka Sunspot; and Forge. The other two—Theresa "Tracy" Rourke Cassidy, aka Siryn; and John Proudstar, aka Thunderbird—were visiting their families over the break. Warren and Sam were also visiting family.

"Okay guys," Jubilee said gleefully. "Now that all the kids are away, this is the adult song list."

"I was wondering what happened to all those dirty songs I gave you," Gambit grinned at her.

Jubilee giggled.

"Yeah, all those are on here, and more besides," she told him.

"What, so we can only pick songs off this list now?" Roberto asked.

"No, no," Jubilee assured him. "This is just the list of the rest of the songs I have in my collection. The ones that would make Storm very angry with me if I let the students have access to them on a karaoke night."

"Can't have that," Gambit said.

"Absolutely not," Jubilee agreed.

Now it hadn't been uncommon during the evening for different ones to volunteer their friends to sing different songs, just for kicks. However, the real trouble began when Bobby decided that Betsy needed to be volunteered to sing "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred. The song being a mockery of the fashion industry, this caused Betsy to roll her eyes in disdain, but she got up to sing it anyway. While technically, they may have been adults, this did not prevent the boys from deciding to yell "Then take it off!" after Betsy sang she was too sexy for her shirt.

In turn, Betsy nominated Bobby—being the instigator—to sing "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You" by Heart. Bobby had no idea what it was about until he fumbled through the lyrics and quickly discovered that it was sung from the perspective of a woman, who had a one night stand for the sole purpose of getting pregnant. The girls didn't help his red face any by yelling out "Bobby's a girl!"

Rogue being the primary taunter, was volunteered by Bobby to sing "Sexy, Naughty, Bitchy" by Tata Young. Rogue was seemingly unperturbed by the experience, until Jubilee announced that Bobby, Gambit and Roberto had all been volunteered to sing "I Kissed a Boy and I Liked It" by Cobra Starship.

"So," Rogue said to Gambit when they came back down, Bobby and Roberto both red-faced. "What was his name?"

"Jake," Gambit replied seriously.

"...You're kidding?" Rogue asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope," Gambit said, smiling at the way the girls looked at him with interest.

"I thought you didn't do guys?" Rogue pressed.

"Well, normally I don't, but Jake was in this hot female body at the time and I just couldn't resist," Gambit nodded. "You know, the incident has always made me wonder about the sexual-orientation of shape shifters."

"Hmm," Rogue considered, glancing at the song list. "Usually I wouldn't stoop so low as to sing something by Britney Spears, but she has just the right song for you."

"Oui, chère? What's that?" Gambit said.

Rogue smirked at him and then got up to sing "Womaniser".

"Oooh! I know another one!" Angelica giggled, reaching for the song list. "Jubes, get Rogue to sing this one next."

"What, you're not gonna sing it yourself?" Jubilee asked.

"Nah, Rogue hasn't done nearly enough singing tonight. Besides, my throat's getting sore."

Rogue finished singing and rejoined them.

"Okay Rogue," Jubilee said. "How does 'Cowboy Cassanova' by Carrie Underwood, sound?"

Rogue laughed.

"Oh, I love that song," she said, and grinned mischievously at Gambit. "Hey does this have the vocal line, or just a backing track?"

"Umm... backing track," Jubilee reported.

"Excellent," Rogue said in a Mr Burns impersonation.

She picked up the mic again, and as the song started, the girls burst out laughing. Rogue had decided to take the liberty of exchanging "Cowboy" with "Cajun" and "snake with blue eyes" with "snake with red eyes". The boys snickered at Gambit who merely shook his head in amusement and reached for the song list. He found the song he wanted and pointed it out to Jubilee for Rogue to sing next.

"Seeing as how you're having so much fun singing," Gambit said when Rogue returned. "Perhaps you'd like to sing another little number for me? You do have this lovely voice, by the way, Roguey."

"Okay, Swamp Rat, what are you plotting?" Rogue demanded.

Gambit smiled and gestured to Jubilee, who set up the song on the computer. Rogue took the stand again, and freaked out when she realised what she'd been volunteered to sing: "I Touch Myself" by the Divinyls. For a moment, Rogue seriously considered yelling "I'm not singing that!" and walking away, but instead a wicked little smile crossed her face and she decided to sing it after all.

"Oh I know this one," Angelica said as the music began. "Pink did a cover of it."

"Psh, Pink," Gambit dismissed. "Divinyls version is better."

Gambit was then distracted—as were the other guys—when Rogue started singing the first verse and cupped her breast. Bobby's jaw dropped while Rogue ran her hand down her body and over her mini-skirt, tantalisingly close to between her legs, in time with "when I feel down, I want you above me". Betsy covered her mouth and stifled a giggle.

"You go girl!" Tabitha encouraged her.

As Rogue entered the chorus, she traced her fingers back up to her breast again, dragging her eyes over Gambit in time with "I don't want any body else" and punctuated "When I think about you, I touch myself" by giving her breast a squeeze. A year ago there was no way Rogue would have felt she could pull this off, but now her adult clothing fit her again, and that filled her with all sorts of confidence.

While there was nervous laughter from the other boys as Rogue continued singing, and well, touching herself, Gambit ran his hand over the lower half of his face, trying to look composed. His fingers grazed over what little stubble he had growing now as his pants started to tighten. Angelica gave Tabitha a nudge and pointed to Gambit shuffling with one hand. By now everyone at Xaviers was used to Gambit fidgeting—usually with his cards—whenever he was required to stand or sit still, but on this particular occasion the cards were being shuffled a lot faster than usual. A _lot_ faster, and the girls giggled at his increasing speed.

Now that she was in this situation, Rogue was mildly disappointed she didn't memorise the words beforehand. Unfortunately, she'd only listened to it a couple of times (it was on the CD of dirty songs Gambit had given her), and the only words she was sure of were those of the chorus. She felt she could have really played this up more if she didn't have to keep looking at the screen. Still, she hiked her leg up on the desk by the laptop and ran her hand over that, and rubbed her inner thigh just for some variety. She was rather pleased with the reaction she was getting from the other boys, although the only sign that she was getting to Gambit at all was that his eyes had started to glow.

Betsy blinked at a sudden shaft of thought from someone she didn't recognise. At first she thought the erotic image came from a student—probably Jones—who decided to sneak back to see what was going on, but even as she turned to the door to check, she realise that wasn't the case at all. Her eyes drifted back to Gambit, a highly amused expression on her face as she realised this was the first time she'd ever picked up a thought from him. Was that a sign her telepathy was improving? Or was Gambit just thinking that loudly? Certainly her shielding had improved a great deal since coming here (which was a relief at times like this where erotic thoughts were all the rage).

When the song finally finished, Rogue got a round of applause as she made her way back to the table.

"I have to say, chère," Gambit said after clearing his throat. "I thought we'd have to encourage you to do any actions, but you went and did them all by yourself."

"Yeah, I did, didn't I?" Rogue smirked at him with one hand on the table, the other on her rump and leaning over so that he had a nice view of her cleavage.

"Encore?" Gambit asked, keeping his eyes firmly trained on hers and sounding hopeful, although inwardly he was hoping she'd turn him down.

"Actually," Rogue practically purred, sliding the song list over. "Tabby put a song on this list that I personally hate, but now I'm kinda glad she did, because I have this sudden urge to hear you sing it, Swamp Rat."

Tabitha started laughing as Rogue slid the song list back to Jubilee, her finger marking the place.

"It's a song by The Lonely Island," Rogue said, her eyes back on Gambit. "Jizz in my pants."

Gambit laughed.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the exact same time in San Francisco (time zones notwithstanding), Warren got out of the limo with his parents and headed inside the Worthington Estate. The chauffeur drove off. Parents and child said nothing.

Warren thought he was making the smart move, choosing to visit his family the same same that the construction on the dining hall and kitchen was being done. After all, it was one less mouth to feed. However, to say that things had been awkward would have been putting it mildly, and he should have realised that this visit would have been no different from the other ones. The fact was that although his parents loved him, they were embarrassed by him and Warren knew it, no matter how much they pretended not to be.

Warren looked forward to going home again, and then wondered when Xaviers stared being more like home than the place he'd grown up in. The fact that he had saved his father's life had helped a great deal with the tension, but it had by no means alleviated it, especially in the wake of the failure of the Cure.

They were just walking in the door after coming home from another social function when their butler, James, approached them.

"Excuse me sir," James said politely. "I'm afraid we had a call from the police while you were out."

"The police?" Mrs Worthington frowned.

"Yes ma'am," James said, handing over a slip of paper to Mr Worthington. "Constable Harris would like to speak with you. Worthington Labs has been broken into."

"I see," Mr Worthington said grimly. "I shall call him back immediately. Thank you James."

"Very good sir."

* * *

A couple of nights later, Rogue and Gambit were continuing their _Alias_ marathon. They were up to season 4 and Rogue was contentedly curled up next to Gambit on the bed. As morning approached and another episode finished, Gambit realised Rogue had fallen asleep. He chuckled to himself. Every now and then they'd have an all-nighter that went that way. He thought it was cute.

"Sorry Jen," Gambit told the TV as he switched it off.

As the TV turned off so did all light in the room. He adjusted Rogue so that she was no longer in danger of giving him a dead arm, pulled the covers up over her and went to sleep himself.

A few hours later, Rogue awoke. The sun was shining in through the cracks in the curtain, and although it wasn't much, it was enough for her to see. She rolled over to face Gambit and smiled to herself. He looked so sweet. She shuffled over carefully so not to disturb him and studied his face. Was that just her imagination, or was he growing stubble again now? Gambit's eyes opened at her sigh.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," he replied.

There was silence for a moment, then Rogue lifted herself up on one elbow.

"When did I fall asleep this time?" she asked.

"Don't know," Gambit answered. "I didn't look at the time. We were watching the episode where Sydney was buried alive."

"Ahh..." Rogue nodded. "Marshall's hilarious."

Gambit chuckled. Rogue reached out a hand and touched his chin. He gave her an amused look.

"Hmm, I see you're growing facial hair again," she said by way of explanation. "I couldn't decide."

"Yeah, not really all that much to speak of right now," he smiled.

"I like it," she decided as she traced her thumb over his stubble.

"Oh do you now? Well it likes you too," he joked.

Rogue giggled. Then she leaned over and lightly grazed his lips with hers in an impulsive kiss. For a moment there was a pause, as if each were just realising what had happened, then Rogue's lips came down on his again, firmly this time. Gambit kissed her in return, one hand moving to the back of her head and the other wrapping itself around her waist. He nipped at her bottom lip and then the next kiss was open-mouthed.

While their tongues mingled, Rogue moved her body in closer, even going so far as to lift her leg up over his body. Gambit pulled her up the rest of the way so she was straddling him and moved both his hands to her waist. His fingers slipped in under the loose fabric of her pajama top, more by accident than by purpose. His hands ran feverishly over her as she slipped in her hands between them to touch his bare torso.

Gambit flipped them and Rogue's hands flew to his back. He moved the kissing from her lips, down her neck to her collarbone, then the skin just at the top of her shirt. Rogue took hold of his chin and lifted his head back to hers so she could kiss him again. His hands caressed her midriff with vigour, her pajama top becoming more and more bunched up, the thin fabric being the only thing which prevented her breasts from rubbing against his bare skin.

Crap, what was he doing?

"Désolé," Gambit gasped out, pulling away much to Rogue's confusion. "Désolé, but I can't do this."

Rogue propped herself up on her elbows, frowning as Gambit moved backwards off the bed and kept going backwards until he hit the wall.

"I don't understand," she said, somewhat perplexed.

"Logan's right, chère," he replied, shaking his head. "I'm no good for you. I can't hold down a serious relationship—"

"Well, that's good," Rogue said dryly. "Otherwise you'd be married by now and God would be frowning on us for what we just did."

"Rogue—"

"Remy."

"I don't want to hurt you, Rogue," Gambit insisted. "And most of my relationships end badly, usually with me being the one to do the breaking up."

"What's that got to do with anything?" she frowned at him.

"I don't know what I'm doing wrong, chère. I don't know why I can't seem to hold one—"

"I'm guessing it's the breaking up part," she snapped.

"I can't risk breaking your heart, Rogue," Gambit said determinedly. "I love you too much. Can't we just stay friends?"

Rogue blinked and all the confusion and hurt melted away to reveal a hopeful smile.

"You love me?" she asked, sliding to the edge of the bed.

Gambit groaned inwardly. The first time he'd actually been able to say "that L-word" in regards to his true feelings for Rogue, and it would have to happen at the worst possible moment. Rogue's smile broadened when he averted his eyes and said nothing. She got off the bed and sauntered over, pressed her body lightly against his and took hold of his chin so he was forced to look at her.

"I love you too," she said softly.

Her lips met his once again in a gentle kiss. Gambit kept his hands pressed against the wall.

"Chère—" he started to say.

"Will you go out with me?" Rogue asked, a smug tone creeping into her voice.

"I... What?" Gambit replied, his eyes wide.

"Will you go out with me?" she repeated, trailing one finger down his torso, and her tone getting even more smug as she added: "Bearing in mind, of course, that if you say 'no' you will definitely break my poor little heart. Shatter it to pieces, in fact. I may not recover."

In spite of himself, a grin started to appear on Gambit's face. Rogue matched it.

"Well?" she pressed, a twinkle of mischief in her eyes. "What's it to be Swamp Rat? Say 'yes' and merely risk breaking my heart later? Or say 'no' and definitely hurt me now?"

Gambit kissed her breathless as she slung her arms around his neck.

"I knew there was a reason why I loved you," he said when at last he pulled away.

"Is that a yes, then?" Rogue asked.

"Oui."


	32. You Have Issues Tabby

**AN: **For some reason there seems to be some confusion over their ages. I don't know why. I'm always noting their birthdays.

Rogue turned 15 back in "Looking for Trouble" - Remy gave her the shirt that says: "You've been a Naughty Boy. Go to My Room."

Remy is currently 14, and will be having his 15th birthday at the beginning of the school year (or in a couple of chapters time, haha).

* * *

**Chapter 31: You Have Issues Tabby**

"It's about time you two got up," Jubilee said when she spotted them walking hand in hand down the hallways to the dining hall. "We were starting to wonder."

"We fell asleep watching _Alias_," Rogue shrugged.

"She was watching _Alias_," Gambit joked. "I was just watching Jennifer Garner."

"Ugh why? She's not even good looking," Jubilee said turning up her nose.

"She has these nice boobs though..." he replied.

Rogue snickered and Jubilee rolled her eyes. Rogue and Gambit had decided that since everyone had them paired off since their first Christmas together, they'd just see how long it took for everyone to realise they were dating for real. The only people they were planning on telling were Logan and Storm when they got back from their trip. They had exactly two weeks to figure out their plan of attack. Gambit was certain that Storm would be okay with it, it was just Logan's reaction they were dreading.

"Anyway, we're on our way to have breakfast. Lunch. Brunch. Whatever meal this is," Rogue said.

"Okay," Jubilee nodded. "Everyone's headed out to the pool."

"Well, we might change after we've eaten and join you then," Rogue replied.

"Okay great. See you there."

One they arrived in the kitchen, which was empty, most of their conversation pertained to their late breakfast. After that, however, the conversation turned to Logan.

"We could sit them down to dinner. I could cook. Stormy loves my cooking," Gambit said. "Of course if we do sushi, Logan will know something's up and that'll put him on guard."

Rogue giggled and pointed her fork at him.

"This is true. We can't spoil Logan's favourite food for him by serving it to him every time he's about to hear 'bad' news," she grinned.

"Exactly. Actually the other bad thing about dinner," Gambit went on with mock-seriousness, "is that he won't just have his claws at his disposal. He'll also have knives and forks and plates and who knows what else."

"Yeah," she nodded. "And this is the guy that taught me that in a fight, anything is a weapon."

"He would know."

Rogue chuckled.

"Haven't you done the whole 'meet the parents' thing before though?" she asked curiously.

"Meet the parents," Gambit snickered. "I guess it is a bit like that, huh?"

"If Logan and Storm were ever to get married," Rogue mused. "That would make her my stepmother, kinda... so what would that make you?"

"I'm her ward, not her son," he replied. "So no, we wouldn't end up step-siblings or anything."

Rogue turned up her nose. "Thank God for that."

Gambit chuckled.

"Yeah, I've done 'meet the parents' a couple of times. But I think this is the first occasion I was worried the father was going to kill me. I mean, for real. But then, this is an unusual situation," Gambit considered. "I'm dating the daughter of one of my best friends, someone I've known for years. This is a guy who's seen me with a lot of other women and well, I guess if our situations were reversed, I'd be worried too."

"Hmm," Rogue hummed and chewed thoughtfully. "So, if our situations were reversed, how would you want him to approach you?"

Gambit sat back and looked at Rogue, pondering.

* * *

A couple of hours later that day, Warren returned from San Francisco. After dropping his things off in his room and removing the restrictions from his wings, he made his way to Emma's office and knocked politely. He was a little surprised when it was Rogue who opened the door.

"Hey, you're back," Rogue smiled.

"Oh, uhh," Warren said, glancing inside and seeing Emma and Betsy sitting impassively in their chairs. "I've come at a back time?"

"They'll be done in a minute. You may as well come in," she said, holding the door open for him. "How was your trip?"

"Oh well, y'know. Could have been better," he shrugged.

"Something wrong, sugar?" Rogue asked curiously.

"Warren?" Emma said. "When did you arrive?"

Rogue and Warren turned to see that Emma and Betsy had re-emerged from Rogue's mind. Betsy was already putting the mindscape down to paper.

"Just then," Warren replied. "I can come back if now isn't a good time, but I have some fairly important news."

"Hmm. Just let me finish this," Emma said, taking pen a paper. "Have a seat. I won't be long."

"Well, I'm going to get back to the pool," Rogue decided, standing up. "Nice to have you back, Warren."

"Thanks," Warren replied, and then despite his intention to wait until Emma and Betsy were done, blurted out: "Worthington Labs got broken into."

"Oh wow," Rogue said. "I... That's terrible. Do they have any idea who did it? Was anything stolen?"

"Only everything they had on the Cure," he replied resignedly.

"The Cure?" Betsy repeated, her head snapping up. "You mean there were still leftovers after Alcatraz?"

"My father wasn't stupid enough to keep everything in one place. There were backup copies of the data, even a couple of samples of the Cure itself," Warren explained. "Although, I have no idea how effective they would still be after all this time."

"The research wouldn't be much good without Jimmy anyway," Rogue said. "Unless they found a way to replicate his DNA after all."

Emma lifted her head and looked at Warren and Rogue. Betsy pursed her lips together tightly.

"Indeed," Emma said.

"Hence my concern," Warren said. "That and the fact that we don't know who stole it, or what they intend on doing with it."

"Maybe we'll get lucky and the Brotherhood took it," Betsy said, her annoyance perfectly audible.

"If it was them, they were very discreet about using their powers," Warren replied.

"Let's not debate the matter," Emma said. "I'll be sure to inform Storm and Logan when next we speak—they may decide to ask of you further, Warren. In the meantime, we'll make sure Jimmy stays safe, in the event that the thieves do need him and find out he's here. Have you done with that mindscape yet, Betsy?"

"Yes," Betsy replied, sliding the sheet over.

"Good. You may all go now," Emma dismissed.

In silence the three left Emma's office.

"I can't believe this Cure business is coming up again after it was a bust," Rogue commented, shaking her head.

"Please," Betsy scorned. "The humans want to destroy us. Leaving the research lying around like that was just asking for trouble."

"Dad didn't want to destroy us—" Warren began.

"Don't give me that. I notice _you_ never took the Cure," Betsy cut in. "I notice you dread going home."

"I don't see how—"

"The Cure is a weapon, pure and simple."

"Betsy. Warren," Rogue frowned at them. "This is a stupid conversation—"

"Says the one who got the Cure voluntarily," Betsy snapped.

"Yes I did, and I stand by my decision," Rogue replied hotly. "And quite frankly, I don't care if you do think I'm a traitor. For three years I couldn't touch anyone. I couldn't even be alone with my own thoughts—a plight, which as a telepath, I would think you could sympathise with. I felt like I was going insane. So unless you have something constructive to say on the matter, I'd suggest you keep your fat mouth shut."

Rogue started to storm off, paused and then looked back.

"Warren?" she said, more sharply than she intended.

"Uhh, yeah?" Warren asked, a little thrown off by her tone (angry Rogue was scary).

"We decided to have a game of strip poker tonight," she told him. "Sex ed room at eight, if you're interested."

"Oh, right. Who's playing?"

"Me, Remy—of course—Bobby, Angelica, Roberto, Tabby—"

"Oh wow there's a surprise," Warren said with a slight smile. "Tabby playing."

"Heh, yeah," Rogue smirked and her eyes flickered to Betsy. "And Betsy was interested in playing too. We're inclined to let her, seeing as how if she uses her telepathy to cheat she's very discreet about it. Of course, I have no idea what she thinks of playing with a 'traitor' and the son of the guy who came up with the Cure, so who knows if she'll even show."

Betsy rolled her eyes as Rogue walked off.

* * *

Rogue let herself into Gambit's classroom just before eight. He looked up from where he'd been busy setting up the table and grinned at her.

"I see you came prepared," he said, looking her up and down.

"One thing I have to say about having to be covered up all the time," she replied as she sat down and held out her gloved hands in front of her. "I have enough fashion accessories to start my own shop."

Gambit chuckled and reached out his hand to caress her face. He kissed her lips softly.

"I can't wait to start taking those layers off," he teased her.

The door opened before Rogue could reply and they glanced up to see Tabitha and Angelica entering.

"We're not interrupting anything are we?" Tabitha teased them.

"Seeing as how we were waiting for everyone to start arriving...not really," Gambit replied. "In fact, one could argue that you were actually helping things along by showing up."

Rogue giggled. Betsy, Bobby, Roberto and Warren arrived soon after and they all gathered around the table and took their seats.

"All right then," Gambit said. "How do we want to play? Slow? Fast? Something in the middle?"

"How many ways are there?" asked Tabitha.

"Probably as many as there are people at this table and then some," he joked. "Okay, fast game, no one folds and everyone but the winner strips an item of clothing at the end of the round. Slow game, you buy chips with clothes. For something in between, clothes are used as chips, or the person with the worst hand loses an item of clothing. Some people also like to have restrictions on how many times you can fold, and penalties for being the first one to quit or get completely naked, but let's just keep it simple, shall we? I think Betsy and I are the only ones who've play strip before."

Betsy smiled slyly. They talked it over quickly and decided to go with the 'substitute chips for clothes' option. Of course, the next question after that was if they were going to give different items of clothing different values but Tabitha decided that was way too much thinking and dismissed it. Gambit dealt the first round.

"By the way," said Warren. "I've been meaning to ask. Did you ever cash in that favour that Rogue owed you Remy?"

"No," Gambit replied.

"Wait, yes you did," Rogue said quickly. "Skipping school was the favour."

"Nope," Gambit shook his head and grinned at her. "You said that it had to be 'within reason' and skipping school was not 'within reason', ergo, I still have a favour."

"Dammit," Rogue muttered. "Oh, I'm opening the betting aren't I?"

"Oui."

"All right then. One jacket," Rogue said. "You know, this might actually go faster than normal five card draw, seeing as how we're not raising... Or are we?"

"Well, we could, but we'd probably run out of clothes pretty quickly," Gambit snickered.

"I call," Bobby chuckled, adding his jacket to Rogue's in the middle.

"This is going to be the round of the jackets," Angelica giggled. "What's the next round of betting going to be? Shoes?"

"Anything you want, chère," Gambit grinned at her. "So, what do you think my favour should be Roguey? How does a private show of you singing 'I Touch Myself' sound?"

"Call," said Tabthia cheerfully.

"I thought you said you weren't going to ask for anything sexual, Remy," Bobby said.

"Call," said Roberto. "Oh, Warren, you missed it. We had this karaoke night and Rogue sang this song—"

"Against my better judgement," Rogue interjected.

"—about touching herself. It was hot."

"Call one trenchcoat," Warren said, standing up to take his coat off and giving Rogue an amused look. "You demonstrated then, I guess?"

"Call," Betsy said.

"You missed one hell of a show," Rogue drawled and pointed at Gambit. "I blame him."

Gambit chuckled and called the bet, adding his vest to the rather tall pile, and Rogue traded in two cards.

"It was worth it," Gambit decided as he passed Rogue's new cards to her.

"One card, please," said Bobby, sliding the card over. "I'm surprised you didn't deck him for it, Rogue."

"Well, I thought about it," Rogue replied as Angelica traded in three cards. "But it was all so much fun getting you boys all worked up. And you have to admit, listening to Remy sing about jizz in his pants was pretty funny."

"_I just ate a grape_," Tabitha giggled. "Two cards, Remy."

"Same," said Roberto.

"I should have done what Rogue did and changed some of the words," Gambit decided. "_I just looked at Roguey and I jizzed in my pants._ "

"One card please, Remy," Warren said with a snicker.

"Such a gross, foul little song," Rogue said, shaking her head.

"Two cards," Betsy said.

"You're the one who got me to sing it," Gambit pointed out as he handed over Betsy's trades and traded a couple of cards of his own.

"You made me sing about touching myself," Rogue said, then giggled and added: "I raise a pair of gloves."

"You didn't have to touch yourself," Gambit said mildly. "So glad you did though."

"Call," Bobby said, taking off his shoes and putting them on the table.

"Ohh," Angelica said wrinkling her nose. "Did you have to? I fold."

"Yes I did," Bobby decided.

"I call a shirt," Tabitha decided, taking it off and dropping it in the middle. She then caught everyone looking at her, some shaking their heads. "What? It's _strip_ poker."

"See chère," Gambit said, pointing his thumb at Tabitha. "She's a real exhibitionist."

"I'm not complaining," said Roberto. "I call shoes too."

"Actually, I'm with Tabby on the shirt," said Warren, pulling his off with some relief.

"Oooh I like the straps," Tabby said as she eyed off the harness keeping Warren's wings in check. "Kinky."

"Fold," said Betsy, then looked at Warren. "Doesn't that hurt?"

"Well, it's uncomfortable, but it doesn't really hurt," Warren shrugged.

"Call shirt," Gambit said, tossing his in.

They stopped to show their hands, and Gambit became the new owner of six jackets, a trenchcoat, a vest, three shirts, two pairs of shoes and a pair of gloves. Rogue collected the cards and began to shuffle.

"Hey Warren," Tabthia said mischievously. "You use those straps for anything else?"

"You have issues Tabby," Warren replied.

"Is it more comfortable on top on or the bottom?" Tabitha asked.

"Oookay!" Rogue cut in. "Dealing cards now!"

"Oh I like it on top," Gambit said, grinning. "It's cheating when you _deal_ from the bottom."

"I swear," Rogue muttered. "You can turn anything into an innuendo."

"Probably," Gambit replied.

"Oh I like this game," Tabitha said gleefully. "Turn...umm...turn 'daffodil' into an innuendo."

"Daffodil," Gambit repeated.

"Opening with a pair of socks," Bobby said.

"I just picked a random word," Tabitha shrugged.

"Call," said Angelica, unthreading her belt and dropping it in.

"I'm not a performing monkey," Gambit replied.

"Call," Tabitha said, putting her shoes in. "Aww, but...but..."

"Call," Roberto said as he tossed his socks in.

"Okay, seriously," Angelica said. "I vote next time, everyone washes their feet and uses open toe shoes and clean socks."

"Call," Warren said, pulling the wings straps off and tossing them in.

"Aww, but you looked so sexy," Tabitha said.

Betsy stood, put one leg up on the chair and started unzipping her knee-high boots. "Call."

Bobby and Roberto wolf-whistled at her. Betsy ignored them and put her boots in the middle.

"Hmm, I call...this random item of clothing from my collection," Gambit said smugly, tossing in one of the shirts.

"And I call my scarf," Rogue giggled.

"All right then, two cards please, Rogue," Bobby said.

The trading of cards progressed and the next round of betting commenced with Warren, Roberto and Angelica all folding. Betsy won and Bobby became the new dealer. The game continued.

Sometime later, Bobby was down to his boxers and that was it. Angelica was the only girl still with a shirt on and a small pile of clothes at her disposal. Tabitha was unashamedly topless, also armed with a pile of clothes, as was Roberto. Warren had a much larger pile of clothes at hand and was still in his jeans. He was also getting a very nice view of Betsy's behind right about now. Having used up the last of her pile of clothes during the previous round, Betsy was now rolling off her thigh-high nylons and goodness me if the legs didn't have to go up on the chair again while she took them off. Warren could appreciate why she did so well as a model.

"Fold," Gambit said, pushing his cards aside.

Gambit still had everything on below the waist, other than his belt. Rogue on the other hand, was down to her underwear and no pile of clothes aside.

"Well," Rogue said as she put her cards down. "Call."

She reached behind her back to undo her bra. She had a good hand, otherwise she wouldn't have stayed in the round. She hadn't quite reckoned on stripping this far though. Rogue had barely touched the hooks, however, when a shirt appeared in front of her. She followed the hand that was holding it to see Gambit's face.

"No one gets to see the girls before I do," he said firmly.

Rogue cracked a smile and took hold of the shirt.

"Thanks sugar," she replied, putting it in the pot.

"Hey," Bobby objected. "What makes you think you get to see 'the girls' at all?"

"Me. Weren't you listening?" Gambit drawled. "You gonna show your hand or not?"

"Three kings," Bobby said, turning his cards over.

He would have said more but was interrupted by Tabitha: "Aww see that's cute. He's going all 'possessive boyfriend' on you. Oh, right I have a pair, whatever."

"Three fours," Roberto muttered, revealing his cards.

"Now if only they'll just admit that they're dating," Angelica mused. "And have been for the last year and a half."

"Heart flush," Betsy said, hiding a grin as she presented her cards.

"Okay, we admit that we're dating," Gambit said, then checked the clock and added: "For the last twelve hours."

Rogue giggled while the table stared at them in shock, and laid her cards out.

"Four aces, I win," Rogue said happily retrieving the clothes. "Did you want your shirt back, sugar?"

"Nah, you can have my clothes any time, chère," Gambit replied with a wink.

"Aww, aren't you so sweet?" Rogue drawled.

"It's your own fault for calling me 'sugar'," he smirked at her.

"Okay so, you're dead," Bobby said to Gambit. "You've got until Logan finds out, and then you're dead."

"He's not going to kill me, mon ami," Gambit said patiently.

"If he doesn't, he'll just make you feel like you were," Bobby nodded. "Well, this sucks. I was counting on winning that round."

Rogue giggled.

"Yay," Tabitha cheered. "About time we get to see some boy bits."

"Umm, you know what?" Bobby said. "I think I might just call it a game."

"You're no fun," Tabitha pouted.


	33. A Shotgun Wedding Without a Shotgun

**Chapter 32: A Shotgun Wedding Without a Shotgun**

Gambit's phone rang and he growled lightly in annoyance as he pulled away from kissing Rogue. She giggled at the indignant look on his face as he pulled out his phone and glanced at the name that came up on the screen.

"Bonjour Stormy," he greeted. "How's the holiday going? Or haven't you and Logan left the hotel yet?"

Rogue covered up her mouth to stifle her giggles.

"Oh really?" he said in surprised after a pause. "Things going that well huh?"

Rogue looked at Gambit curiously.

"You do? Ooookay...hang on," Gambit looked around and grabbed a sheet of paper and pen. "Proceed."

She peered over his shoulder and saw him write down the name of a hotel and an address.

"Okay, well we had nothing on, so I guess we'll so you in a couple of days. Do you need me to tell Hank or Emma anything?" Gambit listened then said: "Oh right then. Okay. See you soon."

"What's going on?" Rogue asked curiously as Gambit hung up.

"Well, Stormy and Logan have decided to extend their holiday a couple of weeks," Gambit replied. "They want us and Hank to come join them for a couple of days."

"In Canada?"

"Actually, they're back in New York. Don't ask me what's going on. Stormy wouldn't say anything except that they organised a couple of hotel rooms for us. One for you, and one for me and Hank. She's calling Hank now."

"Okay then," Rogue replied. "Do we know what the occasion is?"

"Not a clue," Gambit said as he propped himself up on his elbow and traced invisible patterns on her stomach. "Y'know Roguey—depending on what the occasion turns out to be—this might be a good opportunity to tell Logan and Storm about us dating."

"Yeah," she nodded and sighed as she lifted her hand to caress his cheek. "I'm not looking forward to telling him."

"Has to be done."

"I know. I'm not disputing that. I'm just not looking forward to it."

"Yeah. Neither am I."

* * *

A couple of days later, Rogue, Gambit and Hank arrived at the hotel where Logan and Storm were staying and met them in the foyer.

"We've already checked in," Storm said. "These are your room keys. We'll just drop your things off, and then we were going to go out for lunch, how does that sound?"

"Like a plan," Gambit replied.

The plan was followed, and soon enough the five were sitting around a table in a quaint little cafe. There was general chatter about what was going on at Xavier's, how the expansion was coming along and how Logan and Storm's holiday was going, then their food arrived and they got down to business.

"The reason why we asked you up here is," Logan stopped for a moment, glanced at Storm, who had a nervous smile on her face, then looked back at Rogue, Gambit and Hank. "Well, we're getting married tomorrow at City Hall."

Rogue dropped her fork and stared in wide-eyed surprise.

"My stars," Hank said. "This is a surprise. I'm most pleased for both of you."

"Congratulations," Gambit said.

"Oh, yes, congratulations," Rogue said hurriedly. "Wow, I just... I had no idea you were thinking about marriage."

"Thank you," Storm replied, then glanced over at Logan again. "Which, ahh, brings us to our other news. I'm pregnant."

Gambit burst out laughing. Rogue gave him an odd look, shook her head and turned back to Storm.

"That's fantastic," she said. "It is fantastic news right?"

"Yes, Rogue it is," Storm smiled.

"Great. So, congrats for that too," Rogue nodded.

"My felicitations," Hank said.

"Hey Stormy," Gambit grinned and pointed his thumb at Logan. "Does this mean I get to follow Logan into City Hall with a shotgun?"

"I'd like to see you try it, bub," Logan retorted.

"Aww, but what fun is a shotgun wedding without a shotgun?" Gambit teased him. "Okay, okay. All joking aside, congratulations."

"Thank you Remy," Storm said wryly. "Also, when you guys get back, we don't mind if you mention we got married, but we'd prefer to announce the pregnancy ourselves."

"Oooh," Gambit said, his face lighting up. "You're going to make it seem like the wedding came before conception. Sneaky. I approve."

"After all my concerns about the students having accidental pregnancies, I didn't figure on having one myself," Storm replied. "But between my connection with the elements and Logan's sense of smell, the test was just a formality. I'm only a month along. As long as no one looks too closely at the maths, I think we should be able to pull it off."

"Is that why you're getting married then? Rogue asked, frowning slightly. "Just so that the students don't get the wrong idea?"

"Leading by example is the reason for the rush, Rogue," Storm replied softly. "It's not the reason why we're together."

"Okay good," Rogue nodded. "Just checking."

"Besides, neither of us are particularly inclined to a big wedding," Storm went on and gestured to Hank and Gambit. "I have my two oldest friends—"

"An ironic statement," Gambit chuckled.

"And family with us," Storm finished, smiling at Rogue. "What else do we need?"

"Rings," Rogue replied with a grin. "And a marriage license."

"Way ahead of you, Stripes," Logan grinned back at her.

"This is so exciting," Rogue went on happily. "Hmm, I guess this means I'm finally going to get that little brother or sister I've always wanted."

Hank laughed.

"A month, hmm?" Gambit mused. "So, that would make it... April?"

"Yeah," Logan confirmed.

Gambit nodded, and toyed with the idea of making fun of Logan some more, but decided that given the news they had yet to share, that probably wouldn't be the smartest course of action right now.

"There you go, chère," Gambit grinned at her. "You and your little brother or sister are going to share a birth month."

"Assuming he or she doesn't decide to come early," Storm said tolerantly.

"You realise of course, what this means, don't you mon ami?" Gambit said, turning to Logan. "You're going to have to learn parenting. Now I know you've been doing a great job as a father for Rogue, but this time you're starting from scratch. Two am feedings, changing—"

"I know what's involved, Squeaky," Logan cut in. "I'm surprised you do."

"I have a niece and nephew," Gambit nodded. "And a sister-in-law who wouldn't always let me get away with passing them back when they soiled themselves."

"Yeah, Mercy knew you were sterile and didn't want you to miss out on the chance to experience fatherhood," Rogue joked, winking at him.

Logan guffawed at the unimpressed look Gambit shot Rogue. Storm hid her smile.

"That joke is old, and it wasn't even funny in the first place," Gambit insisted.

"You only say that because we're making fun of you," Rogue replied cheekily.

"By the way," Gambit said. "Since we seem to be in the mood to exchange news, there's something Roguey and I have been planning on telling you."

Logan's eyes narrowed. Although Gambit would have preferred to focus on the slight smile on Storm's face, he met Logan's eyes instead.

"We decided to start dating," he said seriously. "We've been going out for two weeks now."

Silence.

"Two weeks," Logan said finally.

"Oui," Gambit confirmed. "I know you're concerned about our relationship, mon ami—"

"Don't 'mon ami' me," Logan snapped. "I know what you're like with women. I knew letting you two spend so much time together was a bad idea. Rogue is not one of your floozies."

Hank coughed uncomfortably.

"I wouldn't insult either of you by treating her like one," Gambit replied mildly. "As 'Ro said, we've been friends a long time now, and I value your friendship just as much as I do hers and Rogue's. I don't care to lose that."

"And I don't want to see Rogue in tears when you hit eighteen and leave her for someone who'll put out," Logan retorted.

"Logan," Storm said softly.

"No, no," Gambit said, holding up his hand. "It's all right, Stormy. I wondered about that myself. It's why I didn't ask her out."

"You didn't?" Logan frowned, confused, then glanced at Rogue who waved shyly.

"You would have been proud," Gambit went on. "It's not often I'm the one who gets manipulated."

"You asked him?" Logan asked, sounding a little dumbfounded as he stared at Rogue.

"Had to. He was too much of a wuss to do it himself," Rogue replied with a teasing wink at Gambit. "He was just so caught up in the idea of not hurting me, I told him he _would_ hurt me if he rejected me."

Logan just looked at her, not really sure whether to be pleased she got one up on Gambit, or horrified that she'd gone and fallen for him. Storm covered her mouth to hide her smile.

"As I said, we know you're concerned about our relationship," Gambit went on. "And to put your mind at ease, we're willing to abide by any ground rules you might have."

This time both Logan and Storm looked at Gambit in surprise. Gambit continued looking at Logan steadily.

"Since when did you start following rules?" Logan asked suspiciously.

"I always follow the rules when the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, and on this occasion, following the rules lets me preserve our friendship, pursue a romantic relationship with someone I..." Gambit paused, and turn his head to smile at Rogue. "With the woman I love, without any sneaking around nonsense and without getting between you and Rogue."

"With the woman you love, huh?" Logan repeated.

"Oui."

A long drawn out silence followed while a kind of staring match went on between Logan and Gambit. Finally Logan leaned back in his chair.

"You're really sure about this, Stripes?" Logan asked.

"Yeah, I am," Rogue confirmed.

"No more overnight movie marathons with just the two of you in your bedroom," he said. "When you go on dates off-campus, I want to know when, where and how long you're going to be, and I get power of veto if I don't like it. Finally—and this is the most important—if you must persist in PDA, I don't want to see anything more risque than hand holding. Got it?"

"Done," Gambit grinned at him.

* * *

The odd little family started to spend the rest of the day together, but in the end Logan bought beer and he, Hank and Gambit returned to the hotel to entertain themselves while Rogue and Storm went shopping. Still, much later that evening, Storm and Gambit met in his hotel room and went out to the balcony while Hank read on his bed inside.

"Big day for you tomorrow," Gambit observed.

"Yes indeed," Storm replied.

"Nervous?"

"A little."

Gambit smiled faintly. A cool night breeze blew past as they looked out on the city view, lit up by lights in the windows of the surrounding buildings and on the streets below.

"And what of you, Remy?" Storm asked, breaking the companionable silence. "Are you still afraid of what might come of you and Rogue?"

At first he didn't answer. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"It's strange," he said finally. "A part of me is still worried I'm going to screw things up, but mostly I feel like this huge burden has been lifted. I actually felt _relieved_ when we started dating. I'm just... I'm really happy, 'Ro. I don't even remember the last time I was this happy."

He chuckled softly and grinned ruefully at Storm.

"I guess that means I've got it bad, huh?" he said.

"Yes," Storm agreed, smiling back at him. "It's nice, isn't it?"

"Being with Logan makes you feel this way?"

"Yes it does."

"I'm glad," Gambit nodded. "Ahh, you know Stormy, there was a time I hoped you and I—"

"I know," she cut in gently.

"You always turned me down."

"You didn't want what I was looking for," Storm replied softly. "We never would have lasted. By the time you were, it was too late for things to start."

"Story of my life," Gambit muttered.

"Only the first part. I suspect that chapter is over."

Again silence followed, but it was the comfortable silence between those who have been friends so long, there's no need to fill the space with idle conversation.

* * *

The following morning found the five at City Hall. There was a bit of a wait, of course, but eventually they went in and Rogue watched with a pleased little smile on her face while Logan and Storm exchanged vows. Gambit stood beside her, hand in hand, his thumb rubbing the back of her hand gently. Hank's hands were behind his back while he watched the proceedings. As the only one amongst the three who was legally eighteen or over, it was Hank who signed after Logan, Storm and the clerk as the witness. Hugs and handshakes went around.

Hank, Rogue and Gambit then insisted on taking the newly married couple out for lunch for a "reception". Logan and Storm tried to tell them it wasn't necessary, but their friends paid them no mind. Nevertheless, the two couldn't deny that they enjoyed spending the time with them—that was the whole reason why they invited them up, of course.

Finally they parted ways. Rogue, Gambit and Hank checked out of the hotel and made their way back home again, all the while plotting to have a surprise party for when Storm and Logan returned to Xaviers.

"After all," said Gambit. "Even if they were happy with a small, quite ceremony, everyone is going to want to send them congratulations. Better had a party where everyone can do it at once, than have their first few days back bombarded with lots of little visits."

* * *

Upon their arrival back at the mansion, it was Jubilee who was on office duty and did a little happy dance once she realised Hank's code had been used to open the gates.

"So, how were they? Whatcha do? How'd it go?" Jubilee asked, nay demanded the moment the three walked through the front door.

"Jubes," Rogue said, holding her hands out to her. "I have some very exciting news for you, and best of all, you get to tell everyone."

"Really? Whatwhatwhat?"

"Logan and Storm eloped."

"Eeeee!"

Rogue laughed while Gambit and Hank winced at the squealing.

"I believe I shall take this moment to unpack," Hank said.

"Same," Gambit agreed. "I'll leave you to it, chère?"

"Omigod! Need details! Details! Tell me everything!" Jubilee insisted, dragging Rogue into the office with her.

"I'd appreciate it," Rogue said to Gambit, who was grinning wildly at her.

Ten minutes later everyone at the mansion knew. It's always dangerous giving Jubilee exciting news—well, any kind of news, really—and access to the PA system.

* * *

"And Logan was okay with it?" asked Bobby.

"Oui," Gambit replied. "Maybe now things can go back to normal, no?"

"Normal?" Bobby queried as he shuffled the cards.

"What?" Gambit inquired, giving him an amused look. "You don't think every time we met he'd go around threatening to kill me, did you? That was just a recent development. If Logan really wanted me dead, he'd have killed me years ago."

"Yeah?" asked Sam. "What did you and Logan do? I mean, I really can't picture him being buddy-buddy with anyone."

"Drinking, poker—he plays a mean game of poker by the way—crusin' for chicks," Gambit said with a wink. "Team up and kick some butt every now and then."

"He plays poker huh?" Tabitha said. "Does he play strip too?"

"Only when there's something in it for him," he smirked. "And now he's gone and gotten himself hitched. I'm going to miss flirting with Stormy."

"I'm going to count all the times you bite your tongue," Rogue grinned at him. "Try not to kill yourself trying to break a long-standing habit now, sugar."

"At least I have you to flirt with," Gambit replied. "That makes up for it and then some."

"It's nice to be appreciated."

* * *

"Rogue!" Kitty yelled.

"Kitty, hey welcome back," Rogue said, giving her friend a hug. "How was Russia?"

"Oh it was great," Kitty nodded. "You know, when I wasn't feeling out of place from everyone speaking Russian and poor little me unable to understand a word."

Rogue giggled.

"But Illyana knows English too, so that was good," Kitty went on. "So, have you and Remy gotten together yet?"

"Mmmmmaaybe," Rogue teased her.

"You did?" Kitty exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. "Oh wow! It's about time."

"Thanks a lot," Rogue sniffed. "For that I'll just let Jubes tell you the other news."

"What other news?"

"Nope, 'tis too late now. You're just going to have to wait for Jubes to get back."

"Aww," Kitty pouted. "But you and Remy belong together and everyone could see it but you two."

"Okay fine," Rogue grinned. "Logan and Storm eloped."

"Eee!" Kitty squealed. "That's so exciting. Although you know that this means, right?"

"What's that?"

"Clearly Pete and I have started a trend."

Rogue laughed.

* * *

It was late afternoon when Logan and Storm arrived back. The word was spread as soon as Bobby saw Logan's code unlock the gates. Everyone gathered quickly in the foyer and just in time too because Storm opened the front door and...

"Congratulations!"

Storm stopped in her tracks in surprise, while Logan grinned wryly at the group. Gambit walked forward and took hold of one of Storm's bags.

"I hope you're not too worn out, mes amis," he said slyly. "You're wanted in the ballroom. Why don't you crazy kids go on ahead and we'll take care of your bags?"

Before Storm could really comprehend what was happening, Gambit, Pete and Sam had taken away their luggage and were taking it upstairs to her room (Logan's as well). She and Logan were directed at the same time to the ballroom which had been lovingly decorated. A wedding banner was strung across, and a table full of finger foods.

"You didn't really think we'd let you escape, did you?" Rogue teased them.

"Guess we should have known better," Storm mused. "Thank you."

Rogue chuckled and the party commenced. Music began to play and while different ones got up to dance and mingled, many came over to Logan and Storm to congratulate them.

"So ma chère," Gambit said, holding his hand out to her. "Wanna see if we can make Logan wince by dancing the rumba?"

"Must we rub this in his face?" Rogue asked. "I think it's too soon to try and aggravate Logan over this."

"Nah," Gambit dismissed. "It's never too soon."

Rogue giggled and allowed Gambit to lead her out on the floor. Bobby and Angelica followed suit when they realised what they were doing. It was actually Emma who watched them in annoyance (Logan was too busying being distracted by well-wishers). She was annoyed because she had intended to arrange formal dance lessons for the school as a whole and never did end up finding an instructor who had both the time and willingness to do it. This did have the side-effect of giving Emma a greater appreciation for the trouble Storm had been enduring in trying to get staff.

Part way into the evening, Gambit disappeared along with Bobby, and while Rogue was waiting for their returned, one of the students, Rahne, tentatively approached.

"Hi Rahne," Rogue said. "Having fun?"

"Yep," Rahne replied with a nervous smile.

"Something wrong, sugar?" Rogue asked curiously.

"Yes. No. I don't know," Rahne said and chewed her bottom lip.

"If something's bothering you, you can tell me," Rogue said patiently.

"It's just that... Please don't take this the wrong way, but..." Rahne paused, looked around, then lowered her voice. "Storm smells funny."

"She smells funny huh?" Rogue repeated carefully. "In what way?"

"I'm... I'm not sure," Rahne said tentatively, then added with more assurance: "Something in her body chemistry."

"Hmm, well, I'm sure if there was something wrong, Logan would know. No," Rogue added when she caught the look on Rahne's face. "No, I don't disbelieve you, sugar. I know your sense of smell is better than mine. Perhaps you should be talking to Logan about this?"

Rogue laughed softly at the look of fear on Rahne's face. She didn't really blame her actually. She could already picture the expression on Logan's face when he found out that Rahne had detected Storm's pregnancy. For that matter, Rahne wasn't the only 'sniffer' at Xaviers.

"Aww, I promise he doesn't bite," Rogue grinned. "Okay, I'll talk to him and let him know. He'll probably want to arrange a session with you to work on identifying things with that sense of smell of yours. After all, if there was something wrong, and you were the only one who could sense it, you wouldn't be able to help much unless you could also identify what you're smelling."

Rahne nodded, looking relieved.

"I'm sure that Logan will appreciate your concern too," Rogue added, then glanced up and spotted Gambit and Bobby arriving with the wedding cake that Gambit had made. "Well, looks like dessert has arrived. Go on now."

Storm's eyes fell on the five tier wedding cake that Gambit and Bobby brought out and set on the table and Logan admired the way her smile lit up her face.

"Remy," Storm said. "You really didn't have to."

"Of course I had to," Gambit grinned at her. "What's a wedding without cake?"

"A wedding without cake," Logan replied with a smirk.

"It's lovely, Remy," Storm added.

"Merci. So, Stormy, Monsieur Claws," Gambit said, and gestured to a knife with a ribbon tied to the handle. "Did you want to use the knife to cut it? Or would Logan prefer to use his own utensils?"

"This one we cut together," Logan decided, picking up the knife.

Storm smiled at him, and together they put their hands on the handle and cut the cake.

* * *

**AN:**

Rahne/Wolfsbane is comic-canon

Yes, Logan really can smell pregnancy (and has done so on a few occasions in the comics), and there's a comic where the X-men got implanted with these alien egg things and Storm could sense its life, so it's from that that I assumed that Storm would be able to sense it when she was pregnant. The species was called the Brood and appeared in an episode of the 90s X-men TV show called "Love in Vain". (Suffice to say, what happened with them in the comic is different from the show, hahaha)


	34. Pimple Faced Kid

**AN: **WatchingCat wanted Remy to have acne, and you should have seen my face light up when she made the suggestion, hahaha.

On a side note, the question that Emma asks the class below is something one of my classes got asked in high school and what happens in that scene is pretty much the same thing that happened in RL. Remy has my role ;)

* * *

**Chapter 33: Pimple Faced Kid**

Gambit knocked on Storm's office door, and as it was open, he popped his head in.

"Uhh, Stormy?" he said.

"Yes, Remy?" Storm asked, glancing up from the computer.

"Umm, I got my schedule and I'm a little confused. You spoke to me about teaching French and Sex ed, but why do you have me in the _Ethics_ class?" Gambit asked. "I thought Emma was taking it over this year."

"She is," Storm confirmed.

"So...?"

"So, you're attending it as well," she replied. "As a student."

"You can't be serious!" he exclaimed.

"I'm very serious, Remy," Storm deadpanned.

"What do I need an ethics class for?" he demanded.

"You were a master thief in a former life," she pointed out, a slight smile pricking at the corner of her mouth.

"...You know," Gambit said darkly. "I could rejoin the Thieves Guild at any time I please. I still have my skill set."

"Yes, I know," Storm nodded. "I know what kinds of programs you run in the danger room too. Between that and the hypnotic charm—don't get upset, I know you can't control it—not to mention some of the antics you got up to last year, I think you really need to take this course."

"Do I _have_ to, Stormy?" Gambit asked, poking out his bottom lip and looking at Storm pathetically.

"That depends," she teased him. "Do you think you can convince Logan to take your side in this?"

Gambit sighed and shook his head.

"If it wasn't his idea—"

"No, it was mine," she cut in, sounding smug.

"—then he'd just insist I attend just so he can have a laugh at my expense."

"He was rather amused when I told him about it." Storm nodded.

Gambit grumbled and then asked: "Emma? It has to be Emma?"

"Yes."

"Not you? Or Hank?"

"No."

"This is not the way to start the school year."

Storm chuckled softly as Gambit left.

* * *

Gambit's first ethics class started two days later, and it was with a great deal of reluctance that he lined up outside the door with all the other students. Storm had decided to put him in with his physical age group, so he was partly amused and partly embarrassed to find himself with the first class of students he had taught.

"Hi Gambit," Artie said. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to be joining you, mon ami," Gambit replied with false-cheerfulness. "Apparently Stormy doesn't think I have any ethics."

"Oh. Cool."

Emma arrived at that moment, and the cool smile she threw Gambit's way was not lost on him. Still, Gambit kept his face impassive as if he wasn't the slightest bit out of place by the situation. Emma opened the door and everyone filed in. The desks were all arranged in islands.

"Why don't you sit right there, Remy?" Emma suggested, pointing to a seat up the front.

"You want me right where you can see me, hein?" Gambit asked, sitting down at the indicated desk.

"You could also say I've got you right where I want you."

"I don't think Roguey would approve at all."

Emma just smiled and turned to the black board while she waited for the rest of the students to take their seats.

"Hi," said Risque, who sat down next to him.

"Hi," Gambit replied.

Artie and James also joined Gambit at their desk island. Feeling fidgety already, Gambit pulled out his cards and began springing them from hand to hand.

"That's so cool," James said.

"Merci," Gambit replied.

Emma finished writing on the black board, put down the chalk and turned to the class.

"Okay," she said. "We're going to start today's class with a group exercise. There—Remy do you have to do that?"

Gambit pushed the cards back into a deck.

"Désolé," he said. "You know me."

"Unfortunately," Emma said dryly. "As I was saying... Remy, shuffling the cards isn't any better."

"But it's not noisy," Gambit pointed out. "Emma, you know I can't sit still."

"That's Ms Frost while you're in my classroom."

"Then I'm Gambit."

"Fine. Put the cards away, _Gambit_."

Gambit sighed and put the cards away. The class stifled giggles. A frown from Emma silenced them and one of Gambit's legs started bouncing under the table. Fortunately, as it was quiet and Emma couldn't see it, she didn't tell him to stop that either.

"This is the scenario: There is a plane that is about to crash. There are four passengers aboard and only one parachute. Who gets the parachute?" Emma said, then pointed to the black board. "These are the four passengers. First, we have a criminal lawyer. He's married and has two children. The second is a single woman who works full time in a factory. The third is a clairvoyant who comes from a large family and the fourth is a monk who is on his way back to his brothers. There is no right or wrong answer. Yes, you have a question, Jimmy?"

"What happened to the pilot?" he asked.

"He died in flight," Emma replied.

"How? I mean, pilots have to do all these test to make sure that—"

"What happened to the pilot is irrelevant," Emma said firmly. "We are concerned with the question of who gets the parachute, not with the events leading up to this situation. Now, I want you to discuss this, quietly, in your groups. I'll give you a few minutes to decide, and then I want each group to pick someone to share what you decided with the rest of the class."

The class began chatting away, although those at Gambit's island fell into a bit of an awkward silence to begin with. Sensing he would have to get the ball rolling, Gambit sighed.

"So," he drawled. "A lawyer—that's just asking for jokes right there—a factory worker, a clairvoyant and a monk. What do you guys think?"

"Well..." Risque said tentatively. "She's not much of a clairvoyant if she got on the plane knowing it was going to crash, is she?"

"Yeah," James agreed. "So she doesn't get it. And not the monk either, because he's going to Heaven already, so he's safe no matter what happens."

"Plus it would probably be against his religion to save himself," Gambit joked. "Self-sacrifice and all that."

"That leaves the lawyer and the factory worker," Artie said. "I think we should go with the factory worker, because she doesn't keep criminals out of jail."

"Factory worker it is then," James said.

This decided, conversation dissolved again. Risque, James and Artie had probably all thought it was really cool to sit with Gambit, but now that they were, none were really sure how to behave.

"Time," announced Emma. "Who would like to go first? Jimmy."

"Umm, we decided on the factory worker," said Jimmy.

"Why was that?"

Gambit listened as he heard the exact same reasoning they had for giving the parachute to the factory worker. So did the next group, and the next which led Gambit to revisit the list of profiles. As the fourth group was agreeing, Gambit leaned in and whispered to his: "Let's give it to the lawyer instead."

He hurriedly told them why, and got their approval (and giggles) just in time for Emma to turn on them.

"Something you want to share?" she asked.

"Oui," Gambit said. "We decided we would give the parachute to the lawyer."

"The lawyer?" Emma queried with raised eyebrows. "And why would that be?"

"Why?" Gambit replied ingeniously. "So he can sue the airline for not having enough parachutes."

There was general laughter throughout the class while Gambit grinned at Emma and she merely looked back at him impassively. If she could have read his mind at that moment, she would have realised they were both thinking the same thing: Maybe this class won't be so bad after all.

* * *

Gambit glanced briefly in the mirror after his morning shower and did a double take. He inspected his reflection closer and ran his fingers over his face, swearing under his breath. Well, this was embarrassing.

He sighed, finished drying off and got dressed. It was now two weeks into the school year and today he had his first sex ed class of the year. The perfect day to wear the new shirt that Rogue had given him for his fifteenth birthday: "I Love Sex Education".

Gambit checked his reflection one last time before he left the room and headed down to the dining hall for breakfast, with a quick detour via the med lab. With any luck people would be focusing on the shirt and not the face. He got his breakfast quickly and sat down at the usual table.

"Morning sugar," Rogue said cheerfully, sitting down beside him when he was halfway through his food.

"Morning chère," he replied.

"Didn't feel the need to tie back your hair this morning?" she asked, sounding amused.

"Non," Gambit replied cheerfully.

Advantage number one of having long hair: it could be used to hide your face.

"Well, maybe you should change your mind. It's got butter in it now," Rogue informed him.

Disadvantage number one of having long hair: it gets in your food. Gambit grumbled and Rogue giggled.

"Is umm, something wrong?" she asked.

"Not at all," he replied.

"You uhh, wouldn't happen to be trying to hide that big zit on your forehead would you?"

"That's a crazy idea, chère," Gambit replied, reluctantly lifting his head and running his fingers through his hair to comb it out of the way again. "What's the point in hiding zits? Especially when they last so long and in a populated place like this? Would never work. You can only delay the inevitable. Stop grinning at me like that."

Rogue didn't stop grinning at all. There wasn't just the one she'd spotted on his forehead, there was also one on his cheek and another near his jaw.

"That must have been a rude awakening for you this morning," Rogue teased him.

"Yeah, I'm forty-one years old and I'm reliving my acne problem," he grumbled.

"Ooh, a whole problem huh?" she asked, then bit into her own toast.

"Fortunately, the first time I spent the worst of it at Strykers, where I had a bit more to worry about than a few zits ruining my otherwise perfect complexion," he replied. "About the only good thing about being there."

"Right," Rogue giggled. "At least when you were locked away you didn't have to worry about anyone important seeing your good looks being spoiled. But just think Remy! Week 2 is puberty."

"I can just hear what Logan has to say about this," Gambit sighed. "Sex ed being taught by a pimple-faced kid."

Rogue laughed.

"Let me guess," Gambit said dryly. "You're one of those kids who doesn't have a problem with zits."

Rogue nodded, grinning merrily.

"You suck," he said.

"You wish."

"Don't I just?"

* * *

Snikt.

"You want me to pop those for you, Squeaky?" Logan asked, grinning at Gambit.

"I've already raided the med lab for pimple cream," Gambit informed him.

"Where's the fun in that?"

"I prefer not to get scarring."

"Sure," Logan teased him. "Can't ruin your meal ticket, now can we?"

"For once we're both on the same page," Gambit joked.

* * *

Kitty was in the new staff room along with Rogue, Storm, Jubilee, Angelica, Tabitha and Tracy going through bridal magazines. Kitty had asked Rogue and Jubilee to be her bridesmaids, and her best friend from Chicago was going to be her maid of honour.

"Okay," Kitty said, holding up one of the magazines. "What do you girls think of this one?"

"Aww that's pretty," Angelica said.

"Neh, I like this one better," Tabitha said, pushing forward another magazine.

"Tabby," Kitty said, giving her a look. "I'm not wearing that. When you get married—should you ever met a guy crazy enough to want to marry you—then you can wear that."

"But it's pretty," Tabitha said, batting her eyes.

"It's skanky," Kitty retorted.

"Ahem," Rogue cut in and pointed to the picture Kitty had shown them. "I like that one, Kitty. But didn't you say it was going to be June?"

"Yeah..."

"There's a lot of layers and stuff. You might be a bit hot."

"Well, that's true I guess," Kitty sighed. "It is pretty though."

"Yep."

"You wouldn't be hot in my dress," Tabitha said cheekily. "Well, not in the temperature sense."

"Why did we invite her to this?" asked Angelica.

"I think she invited herself," Jubilee replied.

"Good evening ladies," Gambit said, sauntering up to the group.

"Talking about inviting themselves," Angelica said.

"Hi sugar," Rogue said, tilting her head back to look at him.

The girls went back to the magazines while Gambit leaned over to kiss Rogue's lips. A moment later, Jubilee looked back up again to see them still kissing.

"Okay," Jubilee said. "You can stop that now. We get the point."

No response.

"I've got this," Storm said mildly, then added louder: "Hi Logan."

Gambit's head shot up and looked around. The girls laughed and Gambit pulled a face at Storm.

"That was a dirty trick," he said. "I approve."

"I thought you might," Storm replied.

"Anyway, in all seriousness, ma chère," Gambit went on, reaching into his pocket. "Guess what I've got?"

"Something in your pocket?" Rogue asked cheekily.

"I've got lots of things in lots of pockets," he said, pulling out a couple of tickets. "For our second anniversary."

"Aww," Jubilee teased as Rogue accepted the tickets.

"Oooh, Monty Python dinner theatre," Rogue said. "Now that should be fun."

"Hey Remy," Tabitha said holding up the picture of the wedding dress she'd shown the others. "What do you think?"

"I thought you were looking at wedding gowns, not what to wear under the wedding gowns," Gambit replied. "Hey, that looks like Ursa."

"Is there a model on this planet you haven't slept with?" Rogue asked in disgust.

"Never slept with Betsy. Never slept with Ursa either. She was a friend of someone I did," he said evenly. "See, this is why I don't buy magazine any more—unless I'm actually dating someone in it at the time. I know half the models and feel like some kind of stalker. It's a little creepy actually."

"This is a wedding dress," Tabitha insisted.

"Looks more like a bra and slip to me," Gambit replied, grinning at her.

"Ha! I've been vindicated," Kitty said smugly.

* * *

Jimmy and James stood opposed each other on the mat. James' mutation-enhanced physical abilities were turned off by Jimmy's leech effect. The two were often paired together for that reason, as James' super-strength, agility, speed, dexterity, reflexes and endurance tended to make him neglect learning technique. That said, the blue-forked tongued Artie was starting to demonstrate signs of enhances senses as well as speed and agility and may well prove to be an appropriate learning partner as well.

Today's lesson was in armed combat and each student was armed with a blunt weapon of their choice. Jimmy and James had both opted for starves , but both Rogue and Logan observed that Jimmy wasn't as comfortable with his as James was. As a result, James was quick to disarm him. After a few moments of watching Jimmy dancing around, trying to retrieve his staff and dodge James at the same time, Logan gave Rogue a nod.

"Okay boys," she said, picking up the fallen staff and stepping in. "James, good work on the disarm and keeping Jimmy at bay. Jimmy, your footwork is good, but you keep missing all the lovely openings James keep leaving for you."

"I do?" Jimmy asked the same time James questioned: "He does?"

Rogue smiled.

"Any weapon you arm yourself with can be used against you," she said. "James, try to disarm me the same way you did Jimmy. Jimmy, I want you to watch closely, please."

"Okay," the boys said.

James took a moment to remember what he did to disarm Jimmy and then reproduced the swings against Rogue. Jimmy tried to follow what Rogue did to avoid being disarmed and missed it. Rogue—knowing well how her own classes had gone—then asked James to reproduce what he did in slow motion (which he did with a comical grin on his face) and Rogue was able to demonstrate what she did to avoid it.

"However," Rogue said as she handed the staff back to Jimmy. "Let's say he disarms you after all. James, come and get me."

James did as he was bid and lunged for Rogue with the staff. He was still in range of Jimmy's effect although it mattered little as Rogue dodged the forthcoming blow, and disarmed James on the rebound. Faster than James could blink, she had whipped the staff out and knocked James' feet from under him, sending him to the ground. Jimmy clapped.

"How'd you do that?" James asked, propping himself up once he got his breath back.

"You over-extended yourself, sugar," Rogue replied gently, holding out a hand to help him back up again. "You didn't allow for moving back again—or alternatively, continuing forward. Jimmy, were you watching?"

"Yes Rogue," Jimmy nodded.

"Good," Rogue replied. "I'll let you boys start again, and try not to let him disarm you this time."

* * *

"Well," Storm said to the table. "Thank you everyone for joining us this evening. It's novel having all the faculty sitting at the same table at the same time."

There was general murmurings of agreement to that.

"Logan and I have an announcement to make," Storm went on. "I'm pregnant."

There was squealing mixed in with the calls of "congratulations".

"This is so exciting," Kitty said happily. "I'm so happy for you."

"Oh! This means baby shower," Jubilee grinned.

"Please excuse me a moment," Gambit said. "I'll be right back."

Rogue looked at him curiously, but dismissed the matter once he'd left the room and chatter continued.

"Hey Rogue," Bobby said. "This means you're going to be a big sister."

"Are you calling me fat?" Rogue teased him.

"Yeah, you're enormous," Bobby joked. "You need to work out more."

"Plus, all this healthy food I insist on eating can't be good for me," Rogue giggled.

"Yeah, that's right. You need more chocolate in your diet."

"Absolutely."

The two snickered. A minute or so later, Gambit returned with something behind his back.

"Logan!" he called. "I have something for you."

"Oh yeah?" Logan drawled.

Gambit pulled his hands out from behind his back and revealed one of the electronic babies. There was general chuckling.

"For you to practice with," Gambit nodded.

As if on cue, the baby began to cry. Logan growled and a 'snikt' followed.

"Now, now, M'sieur Claws," Gambit grinned at him, ignoring the increase in giggling. "That's no way to treat a baby. You wouldn't threaten to skewer your real baby would you? Aww, now don't cry, petite, Logan'll take good care of you."


	35. Is That an Invitation?

**Chapter 34: Is That an Invitation?**

Sebastien tried to figure out how he'd gotten into this mess. He'd just come out of the cinema with Alex and Leon when Marcus and two of his friends, David and Harvey, jumped them. Aside from the fact that all members of the Thieves Guild had been told to avoid violence with the Assassins, Sebastien, Alex and Leon weren't stupid enough to think they could take on a fully trained Assassin, let alone three. They'd bolted.

Now Sebastien was cornered. How they had managed to steer him so well into this dark corner he wasn't sure. He just hoped Alex and Leon got away all right.

"Well, well, well," Marcus smirked. "What do we have here? A little rat hiding in a corner. I always suspected the LeBeaus were a bunch of cowards."

"I'm not afraid of you," Sebastien snapped.

"Then you're stupid," Marcus replied, the dim light reflecting off the knife in his hand.

Sebastien tried to make a run for it, but David and Harvey caught him and pinned him down. While Sebastien was flat on his back, trying to get his breath back, Marcus sat down beside him and cut open his shirt with the knife. Sebastien froze, all his attempts to struggle free aborted.

"Thieves," Marcus sneered. "A bunch of bottom-dwelling, scum-sucking cowards. The sooner we're rid of you, the better."

Sebastien watched in fear while Marcus brought the knife down on his chest and began making a series of cuts into his skin. Sebastien tried really hard not to let Marcus see him wince, but the older teenager saw him anyway and snickered.

"Look at this boys," he said. "LeBeau's trying to put up a brave front. Isn't that just so cute?"

Marcus paused in his cutting just long enough to pinch Sebastien's cheek. His friends laughed.

"Here's the thing LeBeau," Marcus went on conversationally. "I want a war. No, I want a slaughter, but Tante Belle is too much of a snivelling coward to commit to one. I wouldn't have problem with her leading the Guild if she would just put aside this stupid idea of peace. But does she? No. So, if I can't get the Assassins to declare war on the Thieves, then I'll just have to get the Thieves to declare war on the Assassins, and what better way than to kill you? Master Thief and son of the Patriarch of the Thieves Guild?"

To say that Sebastien was terrified would be putting it mildly. He'd suspected his life was in danger the moment Marcus and his friend started hunting him down, but to actually hear him _say_ it just made everything worse. On top of that, Marcus continued to carve his chest. However, there was one thing Marcus said that managed to stand out:

"I'm not a Master Thief," Sebastien said.

Marcus paused and frowned slightly.

"You're seventeen, aren't you?" he asked, lifting his knife slightly.

"Yeah, but I haven't done my Mastery yet," Sebastien said.

"Huh," Marcus considered for a moment, then shrugged and went back to his cutting. "Oh well. Minor detail. Your père still won't be happy when you show up dead."

There was silence for a moment while Sebastien tried very hard not to respond to Marcus' cutting.

"You know what would be a real shame, LeBeau?" Marcus said conversationally. "If something terrible were to happen to Tante Belle when the war got started."

"Not to mention Mignonette," David snickered.

"My cousin's all yours," Marcus said generously. "She's been hanging around with LeBeau's pretty little sister way too much. I think they both need to learn why Assassins and Thieves don't mix."

Marcus stopped again and sliced the tip of Sebastien's nose.

"I'm looking forward to making your sister scream," he said darkly. "There we go boys, all done."

David and Harvey chuckled. Marcus pressed his knife to Sebastien's throat.

"Any last words LeBeau?" Marcus asked.

They say that when you drown your life flashes before your eyes. Apparently this was true for being murdered as well. Sebastien saw all the things he loved and regretted, wishing someone would come along and rescue him. Even the police. His mind raced, wishing there was something—anything he could say that would make Marcus change his mind about killing him and ended up blurting out something he instantly regretted the moment the words were out of his mouth:

"Oncle Remy is alive!"

Marcus started, the knife moving away from Sebastien's throat. David and Harvey glanced at each other.

"What?" Marcus demanded.

Sebastien swallowed hard.

"Oncle Remy is alive," he said, quieter this time and feeling like he was going to cry.

"Congratulations LeBeau," Marcus drawled. "You just bought yourself five more minutes of life. Go on."

Sebastien couldn't believe what he'd just done, blurting out family secrets to the enemy like that. His only hope was that the truth sounded so crazy Marcus wouldn't believe him.

"The Cure didn't kill him, it just made him age really fast," Sebastien told him nervously, feeling sick to the stomach. "Then when it wore off it reversed the aging process and made him a teenager again."

"Reversed the aging process?" Marcus repeated in bewilderment.

David outright laughed. Marcus narrowed his eyes at Sebastien.

"You honestly expect me to believe that?" he demanded. "I ought to—"

"Marcus," spoke up Harvey. "Remy the _Second_."

Marcus paused and looked up at him, his face considering.

"Actually..." he said slowly. "Tante Belle did think it was odd for a son to mysteriously show up after they got the news Remy Senior was dead."

"Yeah," snorted David. "Mon père always figured he was impotent."

The Assassins sniggered. Marcus turned back to Sebastien then and smirked at him.

"Well LeBeau, you've succeeded in amusing me," Marcus said, standing up and signalling for his friends to let Sebastien up. "Run along home now."

He jabbed Sebastien in the back with the knife handle to emphasise the point. Sebastien ran off quickly and Marcus laughed after him.

"That why you can't trust Thieves," he called so Sebastien could hear him. "They'd sell out their own meres—or their oncles."

The Assassins laughed.

"You don't actually believe him?" asked David quietly once Sebastien was out of range.

"Nah," Marcus dismissed. "We get him after he gets his Mastery. In the meantime, Christmas is coming and it might be fun to get better acquainted with Junior and White-Streak."

* * *

Marcus was right, Sebastien decided as he slowly made his way home. His chest was sore and bleeding, and it hurt to run. His shirt was sticky and red with blood. He had done probably the worst thing he could have possibly done by telling their worst enemy probably the biggest secret the LeBeau family had to offer. He couldn't believe what he had done and he felt sick. He wished it was all just a terrible nightmare and then he could wake up and discover it never happened.

A car pulled up beside him, and Sebastien had a moment of panic before he recognised it as his mother's. He opened the door to the front passenger seat and climbed in.

"Seb, are you all right?" Mercy asked, her eyes wide as she took stock of her boy. "Alex and Leon got back—what did those boys do to you?"

Sebastien couldn't even look at her. Instead he pulled away his shirt from where it clung to his chest so that Mercy could see Marcus' handiwork. Mercy gasped lightly, seeing the word 'MARCUS' carved into his torso.

"He was going to kill me, Maman," Sebastien said quietly, fighting the urge to cry.

"We'll get you home and get you cleaned up," Mercy said firmly. "Don't worry, honey. You're safe now. We'll make sure Marcus can't get you again."

* * *

The Whores Guild both supported and were supported by the Guilds of Thieves and Assassins and as such their territory was considered neutral. This was enforced by the long line of Matriarchs threatening to rescind all services in the event of any fighting and the number of members—mostly men—from both sides who objected to the idea of not being able to hire the Whores any more. As a result many peace talks between the Guilds had been held on Whore territory, and this was the only reason Henri was comfortable telling his dear wife whom he loved so much that he was going to visit a brothel.

Still, Henri was convinced when he was given the key to a hotel room that the Whores had a malicious sense of humour when it came to arranging private meetings, especially this time of night. It was not the first time they'd put him in a bedroom alone with Bella Donna.

"What has Marcus done this time?" Bella Donna demanded from where she sat on the lounge chair.

"He attacked Sebastian," Henri replied sitting on on the chair by the table. "Carved his name into his chest and threatened to kill him in order to force my hand in declaring war on you. Or that's what he told Seb anyway."

"You're dubious?" Bella Donna asked.

Henri sighed and rested his elbow on the table.

"If he wasn't really planning on killing him, then he went to a lot of trouble to scare him before he let him go. Physically, Seb's fine—the cuts were mostly superficial and Tante Mattie thinks he should heal up all right with little to no scarring. But he sure had Seb convinced he was going to kill him, and told him he planned on..." Henri had to stop to take a breath. "Planned on having his way with Aimee."

"Henri, I'm so sorry."

"Mignonette was apparently going to be handed over to one of his friends as punishment for befriending Aimee, and well, I'm sure you're already aware that Marcus wants you to be taken out in the war," Henri said grimly.

"That doesn't surprise me in the least," Bella Donna replied disgustedly. "That boy is incapable of anything subtle."

"Which is why I'm surprised he let Sebastien leave," Henri said. "Killing him would have accomplished what he wanted. You know I never would have Sebastien's murder go."

"Oui," Bella Donna said slowly. "That does seem odd. Perhaps he knows something we don't?"

"Perhaps. Or maybe someone else is coming up with the plans."

"Maybe. I wish I could tell you more, Henri, but Marcus, three of his cronies, and Sarah have all gone into hiding. They only show up when something important is going down at the Mansion—and I know he's got a spy in there," Bella Donna shook her head. "I've tried having him tailed, but we all know how to tail and lose tails, so you can imagine the success I'm having."

"What about Sarah?" Henri asked.

"If they're allowing her to communicate with her sisters, they're not passing on information. The pressure is mounting, I can feel it," Bella Donna said gravely. "Things are about to come to a head."

"I concur," Henri replied. "Anyway, I thought I should fill you in on the latest. I don't know if it helps you any."

"Depends on whether the council decide to be angry that Marcus went behind their back like that, or impressed by his ambition," Bella Donna paused, then a slight smile crossed her lips. "Actually, it might help at that, Henri. I imagine the would-be puppetmasters won't like the idea of a boy-Patriarch with ambition."

* * *

At the same time Sebastien was in bed, his fingers teasing the bandages across his chest and tears staining his face and pillow. Somehow he had managed to escape with not telling anyone why Marcus let him go. At first it was simply his reluctance to admit his failing, but when at last his conscience kicked in, every time he went to open his mouth he'd got interrupted.

Now here he was, cleaned up, snug and safe in bed, and completed wracked with guilt over blabbing the truth about his uncle.

He'd be all right wouldn't? Gambit had gone up against and even killed Julien Boudreaux and he didn't even have to use his mutant powers to do it. Surely he could take on Marcus without any problems. Okay sure, they hadn't really gotten on lately, but his uncle wouldn't actually want him to die, would he? Well, maybe he would have after what he said about being glad he was dead (how he wished he hadn't said that, regardless of the fact that Gambit turned out to be alive after all). Gambit was awesome. He could get out of anything.

Marcus hadn't even believed him anyway.

Everything would be all right.

Wouldn't it?

* * *

"And you're sure you're okay with me going to New Orleans with Remy?" Rogue asked Logan seriously.

"You've been going every other year, haven't you?" Logan replied. "Sometimes Squeaky's right: You do have to get out of the house occasionally. Have a good time, kid."

"Thanks Logan," Rogue said, giving him a hug. "We'll see you when we get back. Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas, darlin'," Logan said, releasing her. "Later, Remy."

"See ya in a couple of weeks, Logan," Gambit smiled.

Their bags in hand, they headed into the train station where they collected their tickets and checked their luggage in. There was a bit of a wait before the train arrived, but at last they were settled into the room that Gambit had booked for them.

"I like trains," Gambit said happily as he sat down and looked out the window onto the platform.

"I know," Rogue smiled at him.

"It's nice to see the country instead of flying over it all the time," he went on and then notice Rogue grinning at him. "Something funny?"

"Just you making excuses for wanting to take the train," she giggled.

He poked his tongue out at her.

"Is that an invitation?" Rogue asked cheekily.

"Oui."

"Oh, well, in that case..."

* * *

"Maman?" Sebastien said softly, peering into the lounge room.

At first Mercy didn't seem to hear him, and just as Sebastien was debating whether he should try again or just forget the matter, Mercy looked up.

"Oui, Seb?" she asked.

Sebastien stepped inside and licked his lips nervously.

"There's umm," he began uncertainly, acutely aware of his sweating palms. "There's something I didn't tell you about Marcus the other day."

"Oui, what is it, cher?" Mercy asked.

"Well uhh... Marcus asked me if I...if I had any last words," Sebastien swallowed hard and said the next words so quickly Mercy almost didn't catch them: "I told him about Oncle Remy still being alive."

Mercy paused and pursed her lips.

"I see," she said carefully. "Why—"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to tell!" Sebastien blurted out before Mercy could say another word. "He was going to kill me and I wanted to escape and I didn't know what else to do and it just came out! I'm sorry Maman. I really am. I don't think he believed me. He said I amused him so he let me go."

Mercy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She stood, walked over to her son and put her hands on his upper arms. It was a little unnerving to find that Sebastien was now taller than she was.

"Seb," she said patiently. "You should have told us before—No, don't interrupt. I'm sure that under the circumstances, your oncle won't mind that you told as it saved your life, although there is something to be said about keeping family secrets secret. However, Remy and Rogue are on the train on their way here right now and Marcus will know that he always comes down this time of year."

"Marcus didn't believe me though," he insisted.

"With people like Marcus, it doesn't matter if they believe you," she replied gravely. "They only need an excuse—sometimes not even that much."

"He'll... He'll be okay, won't he, Maman?" Sebastien asked nervously. "I mean, Oncle Remy can get out of anything."

"I know," Mercy said, allowing herself a slight smile. "He's gotten out of some situations I wouldn't have thought possible. But that's hardly the point Sebastien, and it's not just Remy's who's in danger. Rogue is too."

"I'm sorry," Sebastien said meekly.

"I'm sure you are," Mercy replied. "Now, I want you to run down to your père—oui, I said run—and tell him what you just told me."

"Oh..."

"What? You didn't think I was going to let you out of that, did you? Oh no. You'll tell your père yourself, understand? And you tell him I'm trying to contact Remy to warn him. Got it?" Mercy said sternly.

"Oui Maman," Sebastien replied.

"Good. Now get going," Mercy said and watched as he left at a speed not to her taste. "Run, I told you. And tell anyone who gets in your way that it's urgent and it can't wait."

Before he was even out of her line of sight, Mercy reached for her phone and started to dial Gambit's number.

* * *

"Your phone's ringing," Rogue said when Gambit continued kissing her neck.

"I know," Gambit dismissed, having decided that Rogue's skin was much nicer to touch than his silly plastic phone.

"Are you gonna answer it?"

"They'll call back if it's important."

Rogue giggled and captured his lips, kissing him back fiercely. The phone stopped ringing while Gambit ran his hand up along her leg. They had set up the lower bunk, but weren't quite ready to pull down the top bunk and go to sleep just yet. Rogue's fingers dug into his bare back as they rocked back and forth with the movement of the train.

Then Gambit's phone started ringing again. Rogue giggled.

"I guess it's important," she said.

"Meh," Gambit said begrudgingly as he reluctantly got up off his girlfriend and fished his phone out of his bag, which he answered with a: "What?"

"Nice to see you too," Mercy said dryly.

"Oh hi Mercy," Gambit replied with a sigh. "This important? I was kinda in the middle of something."

Rogue smirked at him and started running her bare foot up his torso.

"I'd say so," Mercy said. "You remember we told you that Marcus attacked Seb?"

"Oui."

"Seb just told me the rest of the story. He bought his life by telling Marcus about you."

"Merde!" he exclaimed, his hand curling around Rogue's foot.

"Seb didn't think Marcus believed him but..."

"Any excuse, right?"

"That's what I think too."

"Damn. Don't take this the wrong way Mercy, you know I love Seb, but I could really strangle him right now. If I'd known that I would have left Rogue at home."

Rogue quirked an eyebrow.

"Hmph, you and me both," Mercy snorted. "Don't you worry about Seb. I have him confessing to Henri right now. Look, Remy, I have no way of knowing if Marcus will know you're coming on the train, but he will know that the best time to grab you is when you're off Guild grounds."

"Oui. I'll try to keep a low profile when we get to the station," Gambit said, looking at Rogue who was frowning at him. "Have to see if I can find a hat or a bandanna or something for Rogue."

"That white streak of hers does tend to stand out. I'll call you if there's any change in developments."

"And I you."


	36. Wanted Dead or Alive, Preferably Dead

**AN: **I just have to say, Mignonette is my favourite character in this chapter. I just want to hug her and call her awesome before I run away in fear of my life when she tries to kill me for having the audacity to touch her without her express permission, hehehehe.

* * *

**Chapter 35: Wanted Dead or Alive, Preferably Dead**

In the end it was decided that Gambit and Rogue should get off at Slidell, the station before New Orleans, and it was there that Etienne picked up the pair. Once they had arrived safely at the Guild Headquarters, Henri arranged for their luggage to be picked up from the station in New Orleans.

"Sorry about all this, Roguey," Gambit said as they entered the lounge room.

"Not your fault, sugar," Rogue replied with a shrug. "We're safe now, anyway."

"And we shall see to it that you stay that way," Mercy said firmly, looking up from her chair. "It's good to see you two."

"Remy!" Aimee exclaimed.

She jumped up and raced over, giving him an enthusiastic hug. Gambit chuckled and hugged her back.

"You didn't happen to miss me, did you petite?" he asked.

"No, not at all," Aimee giggled. "Hi Rogue."

"Hey," Rogue smiled.

"Hi," said Sebastien softly from the corner of the room.

Gambit looked up and caught Sebastien's eyes. For a moment the two looked at each other, then Sebastien looked away.

"Désolé, Oncle Remy," Sebastien said, looking down at the table.

Gambit let out a long, slow breath, then made his way over and half sat on the edge of the table.

"Sebby," he said firmly. "You should have told the whole story to begin with."

"I know," Sebastien mumbled.

"It was critical information. Regardless of whether Marcus believes you or not, you gave him an excuse to come after me—and Rogue by association. I swear, if he harms a single hair on her head because of this, I will—"

"Remy!" Mercy glared at him.

"—string him up by his toes and use his guts for garters," Gambit went on as if she hadn't said a thing. "And then I'll come for you."

"Stop threatening my son! He's been through enough as it is," Mercy scolded.

"I never said what I'd do when I came for him," Gambit retorted.

Sebastien didn't know whether to laugh or to cry.

"Hey," Gambit said softly, putting his hand on his nephew's shoulder. "Look, I know we haven't been on the best terms these last couple of years, but I'm glad you're alive, okay crab-boy?"

Sebastien cracked a smile and nodded.

"I'm glad you're still alive too, Oncle Remy. I really, really didn't meant it when I said... you know," Sebastien insisted. "I don't know why I said that."

* * *

As it turned out, it was a good thing that Rogue and Gambit got off at the earlier station. The Thief sent to pick up their luggage reported that he'd spotted Marcus and his cronies hanging around.

"He's definitely gunning for you then," Henri said. "Remy, Rogue, I think you two should skip the combined Guild party this year. Sebastien and Aimee can't, I'm afraid—they're expected to attend—but you two aren't even technically members of the Guild. No one will think anything of it."

"D'accord," Gambit nodded. "If I'm not there, he can't make a scene. Well, not one involving me anyway."

"We can only hope."

* * *

"So chère," said Gambit a couple of days later. "What do you think about a Christmas Special marathon tonight?"

Rogue laughed.

"Okay," she said agreeably. "But we should be out here."

"In the lounge room?" Gambit said, turning his nose. "But the bed is all so much more comfortable."

"We promised Logan no overnight movie marathons in your bedroom unless there was someone else with us," she pointed out. "And everyone's going to the Guild party tonight."

"Oh yeah, we did too," he replied, rubbing his chin. "He need never know..."

Rogue looked at him with a smile on her face. Gambit sighed melodramatically.

"Very well, we shall honour our promise," he said, personally surprised to find he honestly wanted to.

* * *

A couple of hours later at the combined Guild Christmas party, Bella Donna made her way to Henri and Mercy.

"Things seem to be going rather well here tonight," she observed. "Dare we hope we might finally be making an impact?"

"I think perhaps, we have our daughters to thank for that," Mercy said, gesturing to where Mignonette and Aimee were gathered with a group of their friends from both Guilds.

"Perhaps we do," Bella Donna agreed. "There's some hope there."

"Oui, there is," Henri nodded. "Maybe we'll even convince the Whores Guild to join us next year."

"Perhaps. I don't really blame them for turning us down so far," Bella Donna replied. "Young Remy isn't here tonight?"

"No," Henri said. "We felt in the light of... what happened with Marcus and Sebastien that as Remy and Rogue were not Guild members, it would be safer for them at home."

"Probably wise."

The leaders continued to be pleased at the rather peaceable atmosphere that evening, so very different from the tension of previous years. Bella Donna hoped that the council members would take note, and perhaps finally, they could end this civil war.

"Hey," Aimee said, nudging Mignonette and pointing. "Where's your cousin going?"

Mignonette looked and frowned.

"I don't know, but David, Harvey, Pepin and Sarah are leaving as well, so I'm guessing they're sneaking off early," Mignonette said.

"Good riddance," Aimee muttered.

"Hey, let's follow them," Mignonette said, grinning. "Maman's been wanting to find out where they've been hanging out."

Aimee looked at her friend for a moment, then nodded. After taking a moment to make sure that they weren't spotted as well, they slipped out after Marcus and his friends. It took them a moment to find them again, but the good thing about them having Sarah with them was that her pink hair did tend to make her stand out, even in the dim lighting.

The five climbed into a car. Aimee went straight for one of the cars nearby, instead of letting Mignonette go for hers, and hot wired it in seconds. Mignonette chuckled, and they drove off after them. At least now if Marcus realised they were being followed, he wouldn't know it was them, at least not by looking at the car.

"Oh!" Aimee gasped. "I know where we're going."

"Yeah... Isn't this the way to the Thieves Guild?" Mignonette frowned. "Why would Marcus head there?"

Aimee swore and pulled out her phone. She pressed it to her ear and waited while it rang.

"C'mon, pick up, pick up," she muttered and as soon as she heard Gambit answer cut in with: "Remy! You and Rogue have to get out. Marcus is headed your way."

"Merde," Gambit muttered. "Merci for the warning, petite."

"What was that about?" Rogue asked, looking up from the TV as Gambit hung up.

"I should have thought of this," he said as he grabbed her hand. "Marcus is on his way here. There's practically no one here with everyone at the party."

"Oh."

"C'mon, we need to get out."

Gambit lead her to the mantelpiece in the lounge room and rotated one of the candlesticks. To Rogue's astonishment, the wall slid open and Gambit pulled her inside. He hit a switch as the door slid shut behind them, and a stairway was lit up before them. He gestured for her to be silent, and Rogue followed him down the narrow stair. The trip seemed endless, but at last they reached the bottom and Gambit hit a button for the exit to open.

They were promptly greeted with four guns pointed straight at them.

"Well, well," Marcus smirked. "Isn't this convenient? And here I was planning on using your secret exit as my secret entrance. Hands in the air, LeBeau, or White-Streak gets it. If I seen even a _hint_ of pink, she goes first."

Reluctantly, Gambit obeyed. There was no way he was going to be able to get his cards before those guns went off. For now, he'd just have to hope for an opportunity—and that Aimee would have the sense to call Henri.

"Get in the car," Marcus ordered, then grabbed Rogue by the wrist. "You can sit with me."

Rogue clenched her jaw. She could have gotten out of his grip rather easily, but she was neither prepared, nor in the position, to deal with the guns pointed at them at well. Rogue and Gambit therefore obediently got into the car. David sat on the other side of Rogue and twisted her around so he could tie her hands behind her back.

"Let's see," Marcus said as the car started and they were back on their way. "I heard this little rumour, LeBeau, that you're really Remy Senior and you've been posing as your own son all this time."

"...Have you been sampling the wares from the Runners Guild?" Gambit asked, giving him a strange look. "Because I think that your chances of becoming Patriarch are going to plummet if the Assassins Guild council were ever to find out you were doing drugs."

"The Runners are not a real Guild," Marcus snapped.

"Oh..." Gambit said slowly. "Then why are they called the Runners Guild then?"

"Because they had the audacity to call themselves one when they formed during Prohibition. The Assassins, the Thieves and the Whores Guilds are way older than those upstarts," Marcus paused and glared at Gambit. "Oh very cute."

"What?" Gambit asked innocently.

"Senior already knows all about Guild history. You're trying to make me think you can't be Senior by asking stupid questions," Marcus said.

"Yeah," Gambit mused. "This coming from the guy who's accusing a fifteen year old of really being forty-one?"

David snickered and Marcus glared at him.

"Mon père is dead," Gambit said determinedly. "Your père poisoned him. I'm not who you want me to be. Just let us go."

"The Cure messed around with your body's aging process," Marcus mused. "You know, I have to admit that is a pretty far-fetched story. Who knows, maybe Sebastien has been sampling the Runners wares. Thing is, LeBeau, ultimately, it doesn't matter to me if you're Junior or Senior. Mon père was murdered, and no one paid for it. I'm going to fix that. If I can't have Senior, Junior will suit me just fine. You're so much like him, it doesn't make much difference to me."

* * *

The group arrived at a house that was overwhelmed and choked by weeds and general rubbish. It had clearly been abandoned for quite some time before Marcus and his cronies had taken over. Surprisingly, however, the inside was rather clean and neat. Gambit was directed to the centre of the living room, each Assassin smart enough to keep their distance, even with his hands up in the air. A chair was pulled out and Rogue was pushed down on it. Her already tied hands were looped over the back quite neatly, and her legs were then tied to the legs of the chair. Rogue figured she probably could have give the two who tied her down a halfway decent kick in the face each, but with the third pointing a gun at her still, decided to bide her time.

While Rogue was being tied Marcus turned to Sarah, who was watching impassively.

"Strip," he ordered her.

Sarah obediently began to remove her clothes—not that she'd been wearing all that much to begin with. Her face remained expressionless. Once she was standing completely naked in the room, she stood, motionless and waiting.

"Now strip him," Marcus directed, pointing to Gambit.

"Why Marcus," Gambit said. "I had no idea you were into kinky stuff."

"Funny," Marcus sneered as Sarah began to remove Gambit's clothes. "I know you can't charge anything that's alive—or at least Remy Senior can't. I'm assuming the same applies for Junior. Good thing for me, I have the perfect jailer. Whore, when you're done stripping him—and make sure you kick his clothes out of range—use your bones to immobilise him and make sure he can't even touch the floor."

Sarah shot Marcus a dirty look, but continued with her instructions in silence.

"Pepin, keep that gun pointed at White-streak," Marcus went on. "We wouldn't want LeBeau to get any ideas about charging his clothes while he can."

Pepin snickered.

"Front or back?" Sarah asked when she was done undressing Gambit.

"Stand behind him," Marcus instructed.

Sarah moved behind Gambit, her arms touching his arms, her legs touching his legs and Rogue watched as bones started to emerge from Sarah's skin. At first they came out straight, then they curved and wrapped around Gambit. Four bones from each arm and each leg curled around Gambit's arms and legs. Eight rib-like bones, four on each side, grew from her sides and curled over their respective half of his torso. A flat bone grew from each foot, forcing themselves under Gambit's feet and lifting him just enough off the ground that he couldn't touch it any more. Because all the bones stayed connected to Sarah, Gambit couldn't have charged them even if he'd wanted to. He had to hand it to Marcus; he'd actually thought this through. Guess he inherited something from his mother after all.

Marcus walked around them, inspecting the end result while David picked through the pockets in Gambit's clothing. Marcus observed with a slight smirk that Sarah had even grown a pair of bone supports from her behind, keeping her from falling backwards from dealing with Gambit's weight. He nodded to himself.

"So, what am I going to do with you?" he mused.

"Hey Marcus," David said, holding up Gambit's staff. "Look what I found."

David pressed the button in the middle to make it extend and Marcus chuckled.

"Well now," Marcus said smugly. "I guess that answers the question of whether you're Senior or Junior, doesn't it? If you were Junior, you wouldn't have a Master Thief staff."

"Would you believe it's a family heirloom?" Gambit asked.

"Not likely," Marcus smirked at him, well pleased at this development. It would be so much more satisfying taking out the original Remy LeBeau. "So, Sebastien was on the level after all. Y'know, Père told me a lot about you—"

"Aww shucks. And here I was thinking he didn't like me," Gambit taunted.

"He said you had a high pain tolerance," Marcus went on darkly. "Let's see, how should we go about seeing how high it really is? There are so many possibilities."

"I like branding myself," Harvey nodded. "Electric shock."

"The usual stabbing, although I do have a very nice collection of blades—" David began.

"Oui, we know all about your blade collection," Pepin smirked at him.

"Thing is," Marcus said as if his friends hadn't said anything. "Anything non-living we touch you with, you could charge up, couldn't you?"

Gambit merely smirked at him.

"Sure, a blast big enough to take us all out would probably kill you first, but you might consider that worth it," Marcus continued. "Of course, there's also White-Streak to consider here—the Whore would heal after all. You might risk a smaller explosion and _gamble_ that you could take the rest of us out before we shot White-Streak, isn't that right _Gambit? _"

"Oui, oui," Gambit said blandly. "You're doing the whole stereotypical bad guy gloating scene. It's getting boring. You've clearly already figured out what you're going to do."

"I'm not the bad guy here," Marcus retorted sharply. "You murdered mon père."

"Hey, what about acid?" Pepin suggested. "You don't actually need to touch him in order to use it."

"It's probably still chargeable, though," Marcus replied.

"Not if you're a Thief," Gambit joked.

Marcus put his hands to his temples, then looked at Rogue, who was ignoring him. Marcus smiled and pulled up a chair beside her.

"Do you like to hear stories, White-Streak?" he asked her.

"Do they have happy endings?" Rogue asked in reply.

Marcus cracked a smile and began trailing his fingers up her leg from her knee.

"Once upon a time," he said mockingly. "There was a man named Julien. Julien had his own personal whore, and he liked to make use of her services whenever, however and wherever he pleased, as was his right."

Gambit felt Sarah stiffen behind him.

"One day Julien went to a bar with his friends," Marcus went on, his fingers now moving along Rogue's stomach. "There he was, having a good time, when his worst enemy came along. A foul, disgusting little creature named Remy. Remy didn't like the way that Julien was treating his whore."

David and Harvey snickered while Marcus moved around behind Rogue, now both his hands on her.

"Personally," Marcus said into Rogue's ear as he moved his hands up over her chest. "I think Remy was jealous that Père had his own sex slave and he didn't."

Gambit rolled his glowing eyes. Rogue just sat there, stone faced, and attempted to ignore Marcus' hands cupping her breasts.

"But where was I? Oh right," Marcus continued, his hands squeezing her harshly. "Remy tried to—get this—rescue the whore. He and Julien got into this fight. Like every Thief, Remy cheated and beat Julien, but then he tried to take the whore away and you know what happened? She refused to go."

Now all the Assassins chuckled in amusement. Sarah buried her face in Gambit's long hair.

"So then Remy had to walk away with his tail between his legs," Marcus said smugly. "The end. I rather like that ending myself. Do you know what the moral of the story is?"

"History is written by the victors," Rogue replied blandly.

"Close, but not quite. The moral of the story is that Remy has a soft spot for women," Marcus said, his fingers digging into her. "I don't need blades or brands or acid. I just need you. I wonder just how much fun I get to have before Remy starts begging for me to stop?"

Gambit's eyes flashed at him, but he said nothing. Marcus' smirk grew wider.

"You got the toy box, Harvey?" Marcus asked.

"Oui," Harvey smirked. "And the table's all ready."

"Then let's untie our guest of honour," Marcus said. "And find out if she's really a hermaphrodite."

Marcus finally took his hands off Rogue's chest, glanced up at Gambit, moved Rogue's hair out of the way and licked up her neck. Rogue turned up her nose and flinched. David and Harvey made their way around to untie Rogue's legs again and Rogue caught a glimpse of Pepin out of the corner of her eye—ahh, he was no longer holding a gun. Well, now, things just got interesting.

Rogue waited with only a scowl on her face while David and Harvey undid the rope. They were both done at about the same time and as they peeled the rope away, Rogue lashed out at both of them. She succeeded in kneeing David in the face and kicking Harvey's shoulder. It wasn't what she wanted, but it was the best she could do in her position. As her legs returned, she leaned forward, lifting her arms up and over the back of the chair and continued leaning forward, rolling off the chair and straight into Gambit.

"Oh we have a feisty one," Pepin smirked.

Rogue shifted around so that the rope binding her hands touched Gambit's leg, lifting her head back to look at him looking down at her. "You mind?" she asked.

"Done," he replied.

The same moment he said the words, Rogue felt the rope break as the light change Gambit gave it exploded and scampered out of the way just before Harvey grabbed her.

"You know what this means, boys," Marcus said as he moved around to intercept. "First in, first serve."

At first the best Rogue could do was scamper backwards on the floor, pulling herself away from Harvey's approach until she had enough space to stand up and continue backing off.

David finally pulled himself off the floor as did Harvey. Marcus and Pepin closed in on her. In the corner of her eye, she spotted a low table and a lamp sitting on it. A grim smile came to Rogue's lips as she remembered Logan's words: in a fight, anything was a weapon. Rogue grabbed the lamp and threw it at Pepin, at the same time, she swung her leg at Marcus' legs. He dodged the swing, but not her fist slamming in his face.

Rogue shifted to the right, and then narrowly missing Pepin throwing the lamp back at her. It smashed to pieces on the ground, reminding her of some other words of Logan's: any weapon you bring to battle can be used against you. Unperturbed, Rogue dodged, ducked and blocked the strikes from the young men.

"Sarah," Gambit hissed, watched Rogue anxiously. "You have to let me go."

"Can't," she replied.

"She needs my help," he insisted, silently cheering as Rogue's hand slammed into David's nose, breaking it.

"Remy... I want to," Sarah said, her voice thick. "But I can't go against Marcus."

"Bella Donna won't slaughter the Whores," Gambit told her with confidence, then lurched when Rogue was kicked in the stomach and banged against the wall.

"You don't know that," she snapped. "And even if you were right—"

"I am!"

"—there's nothing to say that Marcus and his allies would even listen. They're not listening now. My sisters—and brothers—lives are at stake."

Rogue was slammed repeatedly to the ground, all the while being pulled across to the table. Rogue's eyes laid on the box of 'toys'. She hand no idea what was in there, but she managed to throw out a hand, grabbed the first thing that her fingers touched and used it to whack Harvey—who was closest—over the back of the head with it. The swing continued and she clobbered Marcus as well. She scrambled under the table, kicking at Pepin who was trying to hold her leg. Once free of his grip, she scooted through under the table to the other side and made a beeline for the wall where Gambit's staff was leaning.

"Sarah, please," Gambit said, hoping that his hypnotic charm could get past Sarah's fear and defences, even under this less than ideal situation. "They're trying to do to her what you being here was supposed to prevent happening."

"She's not a member of the Guild," Sarah said stubbornly. "Please, Remy, don't make this any harder than it already is."

Having the staff, Rogue decided, made it much easier to ward off multiple opponents. Sure, she had spent the last few years being trained by the very best, but Assassins were trained to kill probably even before they learned to walk, and she was up against four of them. She suspected if they wanted her dead, she would be already.

Actually, while she was on the subject, clearly four of these Assassins was out of her league.

"Batter up," Rogue said darkly.

There was a dull thwack as Rogue slammed the staff into Pepin, sending him flying backwards into Gambit. Gambit smirked and a moment later Pepin's clothes were glowing magenta, bright enough that you couldn't see how his face had paled.

"Merde," swore Harvey.

Pepin stayed right next to Gambit's legs, doing a quick mental check to figure out the best way to remove his clothes without getting caught in the explosion. Rogue whacked David in the face again (his face was having a hard time of it today, that was the third time). Marcus dodged the staff as it came around for him, but she got Harvey in his side.

"You seem to be under the impression that as long as you're touching me your clothes won't explode," Gambit said darkly to Pepin, then added quickly to Sarah as he released the charge: "Désolé chère."

Sarah cried out as Pepin's clothes blew, breaking the bones she had pinning Gambit to herself. That was nothing compared to Pepin's screams as a result of the serious burns he just acquired. Gambit received a minor scorching, barely above sunburn. He got worse injuries from bone splinters.

"Pepin!" Harvey yelled.

At the same time, Marcus pushed Rogue onto the ground from behind. Unable to get her footing, Marcus landed on top of her and began slamming his fists into her back. Unfortunately, Rogue had also landed with the staff under her and was unable to release—oh wait, it could retract, couldn't it?

Now that Gambit's legs were free, he was able to step off of Sarah's platform bones. He crouched down, lifting his arms above his head and pulled himself out of the rest Sarah's bones like she was a shirt. Sarah dropped the now useless bones and for a moment she and Gambit just looked at each other. At last Sarah stepped back and Gambit grabbed bone pieces from the floor, disregarding the way some of the splinters pierced his skin. No longer attached to Sarah, he was able to charge them and throw them at David and Harvey. He would have liked to have aimed for Marcus as well, but his cronies were in the way.

Rogue rolled the staff around and managed to hit the button with her body and retract it just as the bones hitting David and Harvey exploded. Marcus started, looking up just long enough for Rogue to pull the staff out and ram it into his ribcage.

"Bitch!" Marcus yelled, but he grabbed hold of her all the same and forced her to sit up in front of him, a human shield between himself and Gambit.

"Let her go," Gambit said darkly.

"Not likely," Marcus snarled.

Rogue continued to struggle, using every method of self defence she knew to get out of his grip. Unfortunately, Marcus either dodged or endured her blows.

"You think I can't get you from behind?" Gambit asked.

A stream of magenta light began running across the floorboards, but the bang that followed was not from them blowing up, but from a gun. Gambit lifted his head and his eyes fell on Sarah as Marcus dropped to the floor. The gun slipped from Sarah's fingers and there was a haunted look in her eyes as she gazed back at Gambit.

"You'd better be right about Bella Donna," she said grimly.

"I am," Gambit said seriously as he removed the charge from the floorboards and knelt down in front of Rogue. "Roguey? You okay?"

"Me?" Rogue said, her voice shaky. "Sure, I'm fine. Later, when the adrenaline wears off? Probably not."

"Dammit," and all three turned to see a very unimpressed Mignonette standing with Aimee, Sebastien, Bella Donna, Henri, Mercy and a number of others from both Guilds. "Aimee, I told you we shouldn't have waited for everyone to arrive first. We missed all the fun."


	37. Aftermath

**Chapter 36: Aftermath**

"What on earth happened?" said one of the Thieves.

"Are they all dead?" asked an Assassin.

"Remy! Your legs!" Henri exclaimed.

"Maman, what's that thing?" Aimee asked with a frown as she pointed to a dildo on the floor.

"What thing? Oh that..." Mercy said as she looked where Aimee was pointing. "I'll tell you when you're thirty."

"Who killed Marcus?" demanded another Assassin.

"Enough!" Bella Donna decided, turning on her heel to face the crowd. "It doesn't matter which one killed Marcus—"

"Says you," snapped the man who had asked the question.

"Oui, says I," she replied authoritatively. "Neither Remy nor the fille are members of any Guild, and as for Sarah, as far as I'm concerned, Marcus had no right to claim the deal that was made with Julien. That arrangement died with him. There is a long standing tradition on how the Whores Guild deals with customers that abuse their members and as far as I'm concerned Marcus—and his friends—were abusive customers. There is no retribution to be served. Is that clear?"

There was a bit of a staring contest between Bella Donna and her fellow Assassin, but in the end her turned away from her penetrating gaze.

"Good. Now, get the bodies out of here," Bella Donna ordered with a wave of her hand as she turned back to the scene.

"Would you like a hand?" offered Henri.

Bella Donna was about to say no, they'd take care of their own, but changed her mind at the last minute and inclined her head.

"And you two," she said, looking straight at Gambit and Sarah while Henri gestured for his Thieves to help the Assassins. "Get some clothes on already."

Gambit cracked a smiled and started to get up when Henri signalled for him to stay where he was while he picked up his clothes for him. He did the same for Sarah (who'd burst into tears), while the Guild members tended to the bodies.

"Pepin's still alive," one Assassin reported.

"I don't know," Bella Donna said coldly. "Those burns look pretty serious to me. I doubt he'll last long."

"Oui, madam."

"Huh," Mignonette said, her eyes on Gambit as he tried to discreetly dress himself amongst all these people. "Hey, Aimee, your cousin is hot."

"Eww," Aimee said, turning up her nose and elbowing Mignonette in disgust.

Gambit might have laughed if he hadn't been so curious about Mignonette's father. Rogue cracked a smile though.

"Okay you three," Mercy said, having caught Sebastien watching Sarah as well. "I think we should give these two _some_ dignity. Out now."

"You're not ma mere," Mignonette replied, her eyes still on Gambit.

"Mignonette, what have I told you about the LeBeau men?" Bella Donna said sternly. "Especially ones named Remy?"

"Oui Maman," Mignonette sighed and dutifully followed Aimee, Sebastien and Mercy out.

Gambit pulled on his underwear and shirt, then realised he should probably pull the bone splinters out of his legs before putting his pants on. Henri sat down beside him and helped him pull the pieces out. Sarah was too busy crying to dress herself, and as none of her underlings were there to see her demonstrate compassion, Bella Donna knelt down beside Sarah, comforted her unusual friend and helped her to dress.

"Okay, just how many of these things did you collect, Remy?" Henri demanded.

"Lost count already," Gambit shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe I should skip putting my pants back on. They're just going to get blood on them. I hate washing out blood stains."

Bella Donna glanced up at him curiously, but was distracted from her thoughts by Sarah.

"Thank you Belle," she said, sniffling still. "Thanks you so much. You don't know how much it meant to me, all your support over all these years."

"Hmph," Bella Donna dismissed, helping her to her feet. "Least I could do after all the crap you dealt with from mon frère... and mon nephew. Did you need a lift home?"

"If it's not too much trouble," Sarah replied.

"Not for you," Bella Donna said firmly.

"And Remy," Sarah went on, directing her gaze to the teenager on the floor. "I'm so sorry I didn't let you go when you first asked me."

"Don't worry about it," Gambit replied. "You were scared. I get it."

"I shouldn't have let that stop me. You've done so much for me, and... and I thought I'd _killed_ you. That funeral should have been mine and... and..." Sarah dissolved into tears again and Bella Donna wrapped her up in her arms, somewhat confused.

She wasn't the only one. Henri threw his brother a curious look, the glance missed by Bella Donna as his back was to her.

"You're free now, Sarah," Gambit said firmly. "Finally and properly free. That's the important thing."

"Is it safe to come back yet?" called Mercy.

"Oui," Henri replied.

"Here, Mignonette," Bella Donna said as the four came back in. "Why don't you take Sarah out to the car? I'll be with you shortly."

Mignonette sighed.

"Why do I keep missing out on all the fun?" she grumbled, but escorted Sarah gently from the scene.

"What am I missing?" demanded Bella Donna as soon as Mignonette was out of view, looking around at the LeBeaus with a suspicious gaze.

Gambit and Henri looked at each other. Henri shrugged. Gambit let out a long breath, then caught Bella Donna's gaze.

"Two years ago, Sarah bought the Cure on the black market," Gambit began, ignoring the startled look his brother shot him. "She was planning on using it on herself in order to commit suicide. Julien caught her before she could use it though, and once he found out what it was, decided to use it on me instead as a 'birthday present'."

"On _you?_" Bella Donna questioned, her eyes wide.

"Oui, Belle," Gambit said softly. "On me. I was amongst the one percent of mutants that suffered side effects. The Cure made me age rapidly and then when it wore off, it reversed the aging process until I hit approximately thirteen. Sebastien bought his life from Marcus by telling him this, which is why he came after me—and Rogue—tonight. He didn't believe him at first—with that story, who would?—but he only needed the excuse."

For a long moment, Bella Donna said nothing, merely walked towards him. She circled him while he and Henri pulled out the last of the bone splinters. It explained everything. The sudden and convenient appearance of a son no one had known about before, the uncanny likeness, the fact that he could sit there and pull splinters out of his leg—some of them huge—without even wincing.

"You've been posing as your own son all this time," she stated.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time," Gambit shrugged. "By the way, I have a question, and I'd really appreciate a straight answer for once: Is Mignonette mine?"

There was a dead silence for exactly two seconds before a voice came from the hallway: "Eww! I checked him out!"

"Mignonette!" Bella Donna scolded over the top of a rare laugh from Sarah.

"Uhh," Mignonette said, avoiding looking at Gambit as she and Sarah re-emerged, Sarah smiling through her tear-stained cheeks. "Hi?"

"I thought I told you to go to the car," Bella Donna frowned at her.

"Did you really expect me to?" Mignonette asked.

Bella Donna gave her a dower look, and turned back to Gambit's expectant gaze.

"I don't know," she admitted finally. "I don't see that it makes any difference, Remy. Even if... Even if you were your...old self, you can't be a father to her now, any more than you could have been a father to her before."

"I would have liked to try. I would have liked the option," Gambit retorted hotly. "Seventeen years, Belle. You never gave me a straight answer, not once, and I want to know."

"Remy—" Bella Donna began.

"I get that I can't be a part of her life," Gambit snapped. "But I still need to know."

Bella Donna pursed her lips.

"If you get me the DNA samples, I know a guy who can run the test," Gambit went on, more softly this time. "Neither Guild need ever know one way or the other, but I have to, okay Belle? I have to."

Bella Donna sighed.

"Fine," she said. "Fine. But Remy, after this... Regardless of what the result is, you can't get involved. And what's more, you're just... The Guild can never know you're still alive."

"I know. You were never even meant to find out."

"And we can't be on any kind of familiar terms."

"I'm well aware of that."

"Oui, I suppose you are at that," Bella Donna conceded with a nod. "Very well, you may consider this the last favour I will ever grant you. And I want to know the results as well. Mignonette and Aimee are known friends, they can organise the passage of information."

"D'accord. If I can get the samples before I leave N'Awlins?"

"Of course."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Mignonette demanded.

Bella Donna turned to her daughter with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course, chère," she drawled regally. "Tell me, do you want to know if the boy you just checked out and admired so is really your father? Or isn't not knowing going to bother you?"

"I swear," Mignonette said disgustedly, her hands on her hips. "If the test comes out positive, I'm going to be sick."

* * *

Rogue tried not to wince as she got into the car. She'd been injured before—you didn't do combat training in or out of the danger room without getting a few injuries every now and then—but not like this. But then, she supposed once someone got injured the training session ended, unless it was minor.

She reminded herself as she closed her eyes and tried not to lean into the seat, that she'd been up against four guys who'd been training a lot longer than she had, regardless of the skills of her instructors. She had thought she'd been doing pretty well in training, she knew she was certainly amongst the best of the hand to hand combat fighters in the school, but evidently not nearly as good as she thought she was. Well, good, she decided. Now she had some incentive to improve—and come to think of it, Gambit must have been going easy on her in their few sparring sessions. She'd have to tell him off for that. It was one thing for Logan to go easy—if he didn't restrain himself, that metal skeleton of his could sure pack a wallop—but Gambit didn't have that advantage.

"Chère?" Gambit asked, frowning at her slightly, having noticed her wincing very now and then as the car drove along. "You right there?"

"Back's just a bit sore," she dismissed.

"Ahh. Well, Tante Mattie'll have a look at you when we get back," Gambit assured her. "She'll have you feeling better in no time."

"That'll be nice," she murmured, attempting to fall into her meditation for the way home.

Gambit fell silent watching her. He hoped this wouldn't turn out to be a setback in her therapy. Sure, she was used to combat training, but no one was ever deliberately malicious in combat training, nor did anyone get touched inappropriately. Already half her face was red and swollen.

* * *

Tante Mattie was appropriately sympathetic, but to the point when they finally arrived. Rogue was ushered into a side room, while Tante Mattie had Mercy recruited to wash the blood from Gambit's legs. One his legs were leg, Mercy spotted a number of small splinters that had been missed, probably hidden under the blood and ended up having to take out of most of them with a pair of tweezers.

Gambit sat there and took it. It wasn't that it didn't hurt—far from it—but when you can't even take pain killers to alleviate a headache, you learn to endure pain. Yes his legs were throbbing, and feeling the tweezers pull and push at his tender flesh was by no means a pleasant sensation, but he'd felt worse. He was more worried about Rogue.

"How is she?" Gambit asked anxiously when Tante Mattie finally emerged from the side room.

"She'll be fine," Tante Mattie replied, taking a piece of paper and writing something down on it. "She'll need some time to recover though. Henri?"

"Oui, Tante Mattie?" Henri asked.

"Be a good boy and get some of these for Rogue, will you?" she said, handing the paper over.

Henri frowned slightly as he looked at the paper: "Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't these prescription strength pain killers?"

"Oui. Now get going," Tante Mattie instructed him. She's going to need some."

"Just how bad is it?" Gambit asked as Henri made his way out the door.

"Bruises, Remy. Some of them in highly indecent places, but I don't believe there's any internal injuries aside from bruised ribs," she replied briskly. "She's going to need rest, pain killers and to be made as comfortable as possible for the next few days. I have a couple of my girls icing her down to prevent any further internal bleeding. No, you may not go in there, Remy. Allow the child some dignity. How are you doing Mercy?"

"Well, I think I've finally gotten all the splinters out," Mercy said, stepping back to take a look. "Of course, now I have to wash more blood off."

Tante Mattie chuckled wryly, and this time both women got to work on tending Gambit's legs, finishing the cleaning and then finally bandaging them up.

* * *

The following morning, Rogue sat down at the table for breakfast and it took her a good minute or two before her brain registered that breakfast was sitting in front of her.

"Chère? Chère?" Gambit asked. "Rogue?"

"Huh?" Rogue asked, her head shooting up.

"You okay?"

"Absolutely," Rogue replied. "Fine. Just, just fine."

Next to Jean-Luc at the head of the table, Henri snickered.

"How those pain killers working for you, Rogue?" he asked, highly amused.

"Oh," Rogue said, lifting a finger. "They're working. I'm a little sleepy though."

"Henri..." Gambit said slowly, eying his brother suspiciously. "Just what pain killers is she on?"

"Well, I don't recall the name of them," Henri smirked.

"Henri," Gambit glared at him.

"But I do seem to remember the warning label on them," he went on grinning. "Something about causing drowsiness and increasing the effects of alcohol."

"Yeah, I remember reading that," Rogue giggled. "It may explain why my head feels so blurry. Or maybe that's just that the swelling hasn't died down yet. Who knows!"

Aimee giggled softly.

"It's not funny," Gambit insisted.

"I like it when your eyes glow like that," Rogue told him.

Henri sniggered. Sebastien became intent on his breakfast and avoided looking at Rogue and Gambit altogether.

* * *

After a few days, Tante Mattie gave Rogue some less potent painkillers to replace the ones that kept her zoned out for so long. Rogue was rather relieved not to be so fogged up any more.

Gambit sat with Rogue in her bedroom and finally asked the question he'd been apprehensive about asking: "Can I see?"

Rogue looked at him for a long moment. Gambit looked down at their legs—his still in bandages, hers bare but injury free other than a nick from the lamp when it broke.

"It's okay," he said when she didn't reply. "You don't have to."

Rogue licked her lips tentatively, then slid off the edge of the bed and with her back to him, lifted up her nightgown. She was wearing underwear underneath, so there was nothing to be concerned about in that respect. Gambit caught his breath at the sight of the massive bruising across her back, mainly below her shoulder blades where Marcus had beaten her. Before he could say anything, Rogue started to turn around, dropping the gown to her ribcage. There was further bruising across her stomach.

"Rogue," he said softly, standing up to take her hands as she let her nightgown fall back into place. "I'm so sorry."

Rogue smiled faintly.

"I hope that's sorry as in, you feel sympathy for my plight, and not that you're blaming what happened on yourself, Swamp Rat," she drawled. "Because if it's the latter, I'm gonna kick you in the shins."

Gambit chuckled.

"What if it's both?" he asked jokingly.

"Then only one shin will get it," she smirked at him.

He lifted his hand to touch her face, relieved that the swelling had finally gone down. "I'm glad you're doing better."

"I'm glad I'm finally off that stuff," Rogue replied. "You know, if that's what it's like to be drunk, then I don't understand the attraction."

Gambit chuckled.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you," he said. "I guess you'll just have to get yourself drunk sometime and see how it compares."

"Maybe," Rogue said, then smirked at him. "You know, this was supposed to be my 'bar-hopping with Logan' year."

"We have a bar here you can raid any time," Gambit teased her.

"One, it's not with Logan. Two, there's a reason why you're supposed to wait until twenty-one, you know."

"I don't know, chère. I think it's just a number they picked out of a hat."

Rogue giggled.

"Oh, speaking of which," Gambit went on, more seriously this time. "I called Stormy, told her what happened."

"Yeah... I kinda got that idea after I heard the message Logan left me on my voice mail," Rogue nodded.

"Oh yeah? What he say?"

"Let's see. Squeaky told him what happened, he hopes I'm doing all right, do I want him to come down and make sure the kids responsible are actually dead?" Rogue paused while Gambit snickered. "Oh and to call him back as soon as I get the message."

* * *

**AN: **Just so you know, I'm not a doctor. Everything I know about severe bruising and bruised ribs I looked up on the net. I have had first-hand experience with prescription-strength painkillers though, (or one variety of them anyway). That was a crazy 3 or 4 days!

And just so you guys don't think there's a whopping great plot hole: Yes, Sarah was afraid for her Guild and how Bella Donna might react to her killing Marcus, and yes, Sarah and Bella Donna are friends of sorts. However, their friendship is outside of the political circle. Sarah was stuck with Julien for over ten years and if she ever killed him, Bella Donna would have been honour bound to declare war on the Whores Guild for the murder of their Patriarch, regardless of her personal feelings on the matter. As the Whores are "lovers, not fighters", this would have been a slaughter. Yes, the situation with Marcus was different, but it still would have taken a lot for Sarah to get around a well-ingrained mindset that "whatever she does, she can't kill Boudreaux."

Remy's hypnotic charm, perhaps.


	38. Home Again

**AN: **PyrusAngel wanted some snow, so I figured, what the hey? It kinda fits in, haha.

* * *

**Chapter 37: Home Again**

Logan met Rogue and Gambit at the train station for their return and found Gambit wearing his Christmas present from Rogue—a shirt that said "I'm Naked! Under my clothes." Likewise, Rogue was also wearing hers from Gambit, a silver chain necklace. Logan took one look at the shirt then raised an eyebrow at Rogue.

"Why do you persist on buying him shirts like that?" he asked.

"Because they're funny and he's brave enough to wear them," Rogue nodded.

Gambit chuckled.

"You all right, darlin'?" Logan asked.

"Yeah, I'm doing way better than what I was," she replied. "Just no bear hugs for awhile, okay?"

"Okay," Logan agreed as he picked up her bag for her. "Car's this way. Other than the obvious, did you at least have a good Christmas?"

"Yep," Rogue replied cheerfully. "I'm starting to feel like a member of the family."

"Just as long as you don't take up the family business."

"Aimee did offer to teach me how to pick locks."

"She did?" Gambit asked, sounding amused. "What you say?"

"Maybe next year," Rogue said.

"You know, lock picking is a pretty valuable skill," Gambit advised.

"You would know," Logan said dryly.

"I would," he nodded. "Lock picking got me out of Strykers."

"Hard to argue with that, isn't it?" Rogue mused.

Logan grunted and opened the car.

"I see you added a few more pimples to your collection, Squeaky," Logan said as he slid Rogue's bag into the back.

"Shut up," Gambit muttered.

"He's feeling sore because Emil bought him a big basket of pimple cream for Christmas," Rogue giggled.

"I thought that stuff was supposed to get rid of them, not add to them," Logan commented.

"That's exactly what I said," Rogue grinned.

* * *

"Hmm," Rogue said as they pulled up to the gates. "I see we've had snow."

"Yep," Logan said as he wound down the window and punch in his code to open the gates.

"Pretty localised snow drifts aren't they?" Gambit mused, glancing around. "Stormy's having mood swings again?"

"Yeah, we had a blizzard two days ago."

"Ahh. Bet the neighbours loved that."

"We got no complaints," Logan replied wryly as they headed down the cleared driveway. "Especially after Amara and Angelica cleared the roads."

"I miss out on all the fun," Gambit sighed.

"Fun, he calls it," Logan muttered.

Rogue giggled.

"Hey Logan," she said. "If you and Storm ever decide to have a second baby, maybe you should think about taking a year off somewhere."

Logan growled at her. Gambit and Rogue just laughed.

* * *

Gambit tapped lightly on Hank's office door. Hank glanced up from his computer and turned his head to see Gambit standing apprehensively in the door way.

"Ahh, Remy," he said. "Back from New Orleans, I see."

"Oui," Gambit said, smiling tentatively. "Hey, I was hoping you might do me a little favour."

"Certainly."

"I was hoping," Gambit said, holding out a small wooden box. "That you might tell me if...if Mignonette is my daughter."

Hank blinked as he accepted the box and opened it. The inside of the box had been lined with foam, and nestled in the cushioning were two DNA samples; one from Bella Donna and the other from Mignonette.

"Of course," Hank replied gently.

"Do you need a sample of my DNA?" Gambit asked.

"No, I already have it on file. This will take a couple of days," Hank advised him.

"That's fine," Gambit said, shoving his hands into his back pockets. "I've been waiting years, what's a few more days?"

"Ahh," Hank nodded. "Were you hoping for a particular result?"

"Not any more, Hank. I just want to know."

* * *

It was eight o'clock on Friday night when Rogue and Gambit began watching _Lord of the Rings_ in the staff room. Joining them were Roberto, John, Tracy, Forge, and Jones. Kitty and Piotr, Sam and Tabitha, and interestingly, Bobby and Angelica were all out on dates. Jubilee and Betsy had gone out on the town. Warren, Emma, Storm, Logan, Evelyn, and Hank weren't interested. Jones was very excited to be included in their marathon, especially when he was usually discluded from the adults' night time activities.

Everyone was prepared with pillows, pajamas and popcorn, although Roberto had a few things to say about what kind of pajamas Rogue and Tracy should be wearing, and that a pillow fight should be involved. They threw popcorn at him for that. The staff room was preferred over Gambit's room, mostly because Gambit didn't want all of them in his room, but also because there was more space in the staff room.

It was a little difficult to enjoy the first half of _The Fellowship of the Ring_, what with Logan, Warren, Evelyn, and Emma busy playing pool and having their own chatter in the background. Nevertheless, partway through the second half, the watchers were finally able to switch the lights out. Gambit took advantage to properly snuggle up besides Rogue.

"You know what scene I love?" Tracy said when the first movie finally ended and Rogue got up to change the discs over. "When Sam chases on after Frodo even though he can't swim."

"I love that scene too," Rogue agreed. "But, Sam's the hero of course. You'd expect such behaviour from him."

"I thought Frodo was the hero," John frowned.

"Nope, it's definitely Sam," Rogue nodded.

"But Frodo's the ring bearer," John insisted.

"So? Look, Sam is in the movies from beginning to end—"

"So is Frodo. In fact, he shows up sooner than Sam does."

"Sam's crucial to the main plot line."

"Hello! Frodo's the ring bearer!"

"And Sam gets the girl in the end," Rogue finished smugly.

Gambit, Roberto, Forge, and Tracy burst out laughing. John opened his mouth to respond, closed it and shook his head.

"Can't argue with that, can you?" Rogue grinned.

"You suck," John sighed.

"I'll take that as a yes," Rogue nodded. "And now for _The Two Towers_."

Rogue nestled back down on the lounge in front of Gambit again, who wrapped his arm around her. He liked how well their bodies fitted next to each other. He especially liked that Rogue wasn't wearing underwear beneath her pajamas, for that matter. His hand rested under her top against her stomach, his ever-restless fingers stroking her skin gently. His foot rubbed hers. He was very careful not to rub her stomach too hard; there was still bruising there after all, even if they were looking a lot better now. He was careful not to press to hard against her back either for the same reason.

It was odd, but Gambit had decided that it didn't really bother him that Rogue wanted to wait before having sex. Granted, a little retraining on his part was required when making out with her, but just being able to hold her like he was now was enough to make him happy.

If she ever changed her mind he wouldn't complain though. He could think of all sorts of fun things he'd love to do with her.

Wandering fingers travelled down Rogue's stomach, lingered on her hip for a few scenes, always caressing and finally gave her butt a squeeze. Rogue turned her head to throw Gambit an amused look, and he took advantage of having her attention to kiss her lips firmly. He moved his hand up to cup her chin, and she threaded her fingers into his hair.

Eventually the movie distracted them from their moment. Rogue enjoyed feeling Gambit's body next to her, his fingers stroking her hip and the occasional kiss on the back of her neck or her cheek. Times like this she liked that he couldn't sit still.

Roughly four in the morning, they finally started on _Return of the King_, but it wasn't until they changed to the second disc of the third movie that others at Xaviers started making their appearance. Logan showed up about seven.

"You kids still watching this?" he asked.

"Shh!"

"We're almost there."

"Hmph," Logan grunted and peered over to look at Rogue and Gambit on the lounge. "Comfy?"

"Uh huh," Rogue murmured. "When this is over, I'm going to crash."

Gambit chuckled.

"That looks likes more than hand holding to me, Squeaky," Logan added.

"Cuddling's not allowed, M'sieur Claws?" Gambit asked.

Logan smirked at him with his hands resting on the back of the lounge.

"You can stay there," Logan said. "But only because I find it hilarious hearing you say the word 'cuddling'."

Gambit chuckled. Jones used his techopathy to turn the volume up in 'silent' protest of their conversation.

The final movie edged closer to the conclusion and Hank walked in as Sam and Frodo were being rescued by the eagles.

"I see that your marathon is about to reach its conclusion," Hank commented.

"You kidding?" Tracy said. "We've still got half a dozen endings to watch."

Hank was a little perplexed by this comment, until he watched the rest of the movie with them and saw multiple points where the movie could have concluded, but didn't. More than once he started to speak, only to be interrupted. Finally he just kept his mouth shut until the credits started to roll.

"Remy," he said.

"Oui?" Gambit asked, sitting up on the lounge to look at him.

"I have the tests results you wanted," Hank said, holding out two envelopes to him. "One for you, and one for the... Bella Donna."

Gambit slowly reached out and accepted the white envelopes.

"Thanks for this," he said softly.

Hank only nodded in return, with a slight smile that didn't give Gambit a hint of what was inside and departed.

"What test?" asked Tracy curiously.

"Remy?" Rogue said, cutting in before Tracy realised that Gambit was just going to ignore her question. "Wanna walk me to my room?"

Gambit chuckled.

"Sure, I can do that," he said.

"Aww," Tracy teased them.

Rogue stopped long enough to collect her DVDs, then with one hand resting comfortably around her waist, Gambit walked with Rogue back to her room. He held the envelopes in his other hand.

"Well, here we are," Gambit said when they reached her door. "Have a good sleep, ma chère."

"I will," Rogue replied and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his lips softly. "You wanna come in for a bit?"

He kissed her back while he considered.

"Okay," he agreed. "But only because Logan's not likely to come along any time soon and fuss about PDA."

"PDA is _Public_ Displays of Affection," Rogue pointed out as she opened her bedroom door.

"It can also stand for Private Displays of Affection. He wasn't very specific," Gambit joked.

Rogue giggled and pulled him inside after her. Gambit kicked the door shut behind him as their lips tangled. Rogue felt Gambit's hands slide up her back, although there was something odd about his left hand—he was holding it different for some reason.

Oh yeah.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Rogue said, pulling away. "You're probably eager to see the test results and here I am distracting you."

Gambit smiled and ran the fingers of his free hand down her cheek.

"But what a beautiful distraction," he murmured.

"Aww, flatterer," Rogue smirked at him. "I want some sleep anyway. I'll let you go."

"Merci," he said softly. "Have a good sleep."

"I will."

Gambit turned for the door, then stopped.

"Rogue?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind being here while I do?"

"Oh," Rogue said with a blink. "Well, yes, that's fine. If you really want me to. I would have thought you wanted some privacy."

"Not this time," he decided.

Rogue sat down on the edge of her bad and patted the space next to her.

"Whatever you want," she said seriously.

Gambit nodded and then sat down beside her. One envelope was marked with his name and the other with Bella Donna's. He put Bella Donna's aside and stared at his own for a moment. Finally he slipped his finger under the seal of the envelope and ripped it open. Rogue said nothing, just watched patiently as Gambit slowly pulled the sheet of paper out.

"I can't believe I'm so nervous about this," he muttered and finally unfolded it.

She was sorely tempted to peek over his shoulder when Gambit didn't say anything straight away, but restrained herself and waited for him to speak.

"She's not mine," Gambit said finally.

"Disappointed?" Rogue asked, unable to gauge what he thought from his tone.

Gambit looked up and turned his head to catch Rogue's searching eyes. The paper slipped from his fingers and fell to the floor. He shrugged.

"There was a time when I really wanted her to be mine," he admitted. "Didn't matter that the marriage between Belle and I was arranged, I was looking forward to it, y'know?"

"You loved her?"

"I thought so. We even thought about getting married anyway, regardless of what Julien thought but..." Gambit shrugged. "We grew apart, I guess. Work didn't help any either; we both travelled a lot. Still, once I really wanted Mignonette to be mine."

He sighed and Rogue moved in. She wrapped one arm around his waist and rested her other hand on his knee.

"Nowadays," he went on. "Well, Belle's right. I can't be a father to her, and I guess a part of me is glad. Hell, chère, Mignonette turns eighteen this year. I've missed so much. I mean, I want to be a father, but I want everything that comes with it too, good and bad. Not just the ability to point and say 'she came from my sperm'."

Rogue giggled.

"Yeah," she said. "That's classy."

Gambit chuckled and kissed her softly.

"Well," Rogue continued. "You know what this means?"

"Rogue," Gambit said darkly. "If you're going to make another sterile joke, I'm going to spank you."

"Actually I was going to complain that I can't get you this 'Sperm Donar' shirt I found," Rogue smirked. "But since you mentioned it..."

"I'm not kidding. I will bend you over my knee and spank you," Gambit nodded. "And only because we're not legally eighteen yet so I can't elope with you and prove just how virile I am."

Rogue laughed, then turned on her knee, lifted her other leg over his lap and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Oh really?" she mused. "So, now if I ever decide I wanted to trick you into marrying me, all I have to do is poke fun at your ability to have children."

"It's not nice, chère," Gambit said reproachfully as he ran his hands up her legs and rested them on her firm behind. "I don't call you barren."

"True," she conceded. "But I like annoying you. You're so cute when you're annoyed and there's so little ammunition I get to use against you. Although the pimple thing had been fun lately."

"Speaking of which, Miss all-so-perfect-skin," Gambit said. "You've got one too."

"I do not," Rogue replied.

"Oui, you do. Right there," he said, putting his finger on the sole pimple by the side of her nose.

"It's a sympathy pimple," she decided.

Gambit chuckled and kissed her softly. Rogue kissed him back and nipped at his bottom lip.

"So," she said softly while her hands tugged at the hem of his shirt. "You want to be a father, huh?"

"That so hard to believe?" Gambit asked.

"Yes and no," Rogue shrugged. "I could picture you with a family, I just didn't think you were the settling down kind."

"Just because I haven't been successful in having my own family, doesn't mean I don't want one, chère," he pointed out.

"Hmm," Rogue said and pressed into him so that he had to lie down on the bed. "That's good to know."

Gambit lifted his hands from her behind and ran them up her sides as she kissed him.

"If you didn't know before, why'd you ask me out?" he asked.

"Because I love you, silly," Rogue replied and tapped his nose. "What other reason do I need?"

"I like that answer," Gambit decided and then grinned at her. "We just got serious, didn't we?"

"Hell yes."

"Does this mean I can touch your boobs now?"

"Hell no."

"Damn."

"I find you much too tempting as it is," Rogue said coyly, grinning down at him. "Trying to work on my self control here."

"Oh, I'm tempting am I?" Gambit asked, tucking his fingers in under her pajama top to run them along her back.

"Uh huh," she murmured while her lips got busy on his neck. "I promise I'll lay off the sterile jokes."

"Good girl. I promise to find another reason to spank you. Oh, I know!" he joked. "You can let me touch your boobs, and then I can spank you for giving into temptation."

Rogue giggled and lifted her head.

"Nice try," she said.

"Nothing nice about it," he grinned at her. "It was entirely self-serving. I like any excuse to touch you."

"I like you touching me. I like touching you too," Rogue replied and lowered her head to kiss him deeply.

There was no more time for words as their tongues danced with each other. Gambit moved his hands to cup her face as she ran one of hers over his chest. Then he moved his hands up her arms, over her sides, her behind and finally rested on her knees which were folded up just within reach.

Rogue's hand trailed down his chest and then slipped in underneath his shirt, her fingers kneading his firm muscle. Gambit moved his hands back up to her hips and Rogue gasped into his mouth as he ground her against him, feeling his manhood even between two sets of clothes.

Gambit chuckled softly as Rogue lifted her head.

"When I finally get to sleep," she said dryly, "I'm going to have the dirtiest dreams because of you."

"Oh goody."


	39. February

**AN: **I hate coming up with titles sometimes. And there wasn't even any good, short one-liners in this chapter to use *sigh*

Hellion is comic-canon. His actual name is Julian Keller, but I decided to just call him Hellion because we already have a Julien. It's bad enough there's two John's - Thunderbird and Pyro - and a Sam (Cannonball) and Sammy (Squidboy).**  
**

* * *

**Chapter 38: February**

"Well, this is nice," Rogue said as she sat back in her chair at the restaurant. "Our first Valentines Day date where we're actually dating."

Gambit chuckled.

"Oui," he said. "Now if only we could order the wine..."

Rogue laughed at him. He grinned at her, then reached over, took her hand and kissed the back of it.

"You don't know how happy you make me, chère," he said softly. "You know, it was about this time twenty-six years ago I got abducted by Stryker. Next week, actually."

"Wow," Rogue said, blinking. "So, everything from here on in is new, huh?"

"Oui. I was talking to Emma—believe it or not we were actually having a civil conversation—"

"Will wonders never cease?" she teased him.

"I hope not. Anyway," Gambit went on, plunging his fork into his plate of food. "Emma was saying that although a lot of mutants manifest in their early to mid teens, they don't really come into their powers until their late teens or twenties, sometimes even later."

Rogue nodded slowly.

"Makes sense," she said. "I mean, we've even seen it. Like with Bobby. When we first met he was just able to freeze stuff and whatever. Now he can turn into ice."

Gambit chuckled.

"I've noticed that," he said. "So, I guess I'm a little nervous. No, you don't get to repeat that."

"I won't, and I understand," Rogue replied with amusement. "You don't know how much fiddling Stryker did to you, so you don't know if you ever really came into your powers or not."

"Yeah."

"I'm nervous too, actually," Rogue admitted. "I mean, we don't know that I regressed _exactly_ six years, but I was sixteen years and ten months when my powers manifested. So really, even if they do need an emotional trigger like the first time, they could show up any time between my sixteenth and my seventeenth. Maybe not even until after then."

Gambit gave her hand a squeeze.

"You're going to get control," he said firmly. "No matter what happens, Roguey, you're going to get control. In fact, I may make that the favour you owe me."

Rogue laughed.

"Are you ever going to cash that in?" she asked as she scooped up a mouthful of food with her fork.

"I'm trying to think of something suitably interesting, that you wouldn't do normally and isn't unreasonable or sexual," Gambit nodded. "It's harder than you think."

"Well," Rogue mused after she swallowed. "I suppose since we are dating now, I can drop the sexual thing. I'm pretty sure I can trust you."

Gambit smiled brightly.

"Aww Roguey," he said. "You have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that."

"What? To let you ask something sexual?"

"No, that you trust me."

"Of course I trust you," Rogue replied, giving him an amused look. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I'm just not generally considered a trustworthy guy, chère," he shrugged. "I don't really get that very often. You know something? I'm so glad you asked me out."

Rogue laughed.

"No, seriously," Gambit insisted. "At the risk of sounding completely sappy, I don't think I've been in a relationship quite this good in, well, ever actually. I mean, not even Bella Donna ever really trusted me and we were together—albeit on and off—for years."

"Yeah? Just... just how long was your longest? Other than Bella Donna, I mean."

"Eighteen months."

"Was that Melissa?"

"Non, Melissa was a year. I remember this because I chose to tell her about my secondary mutation on our first year anniversary," Gambit replied bitterly. "No, Suzanne was eighteen months. You know how I travelled a lot with work?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I discovered that every time I left for work, she found someone else to play with."

"Oh. Sorry, I shouldn't have asked about this."

"Nah, it's okay," Gambit said. "Sometimes it feels like it happened, well, in another lifetime."

Rogue giggled.

"Actually Roguey," he mused. "I think I do know what I want to do with that favour."

"Oh yeah?"

"Unfortunately, we can't."

"Oookay."

"Logan won't let us."

"Ahh," Rogue chuckled as she scraped her place clean. "Like that is it?"

"Oui. Well, actually he said no overnight movie marathons in the bedroom without a third party, but I'm assuming he means sleepovers in general," Gambit replied.

"Sleepover huh?"

"Yeah, well, I know what there have been the odd occasions where you've fallen asleep towards the morning and we've caught a couple of hours together, but that's not quite what I'm after," he said, then grinned at her. "Besides, you're always wearing pajamas."

"Oh, you," Rogue smirked at him. "So what? You want a naked sleepover?"

"Actually I was thinking more underwear, but if you want to go naked..."

"As you said, Logan won't let us."

"I like the way you avoid answering the question," he grinned at her as he pushed his now-empty plate aside. "Actually I just like the idea of waking up next to you."

"Well, it would be that way around, wouldn't it?" Rogue mused. "You only need five hours of sleep, or are you back to four now?"

"No, still on five hours," Gambit shrugged. "Actually more like four and a half, but whichever. I'm getting there."

Rogue chuckled.

"Oh hey," she said. "Have you heard from your family recently?"

"Oui," Gambit nodded. "Let's see, they're planning some restructuring of the Guild Hall. Henri was most put off that Marcus knew about the secret passage, by the way, although how he found out about it is anyone's guess. For all we know, the Boudreauxs have known about that passage for generations, or maybe just a couple of weeks. Seb insists he never told him. Anyway, what's the point in a secret passage if everyone knows about it, right?"

"Right," Rogue agreed with a grin.

"So they're look at ways they can move it or disguise it better. No mean feat, I assure you."

"I'm sure it's not. What about Mignonette and Bella Donna?"

"Well, according to Aimee," Gambit said with a chuckle, "Mignonette did a little happy dance when she found out I wasn't her père after all and also refuses to admit she showed any interest in one of her mère's former lovers."

Rogue giggled.

"I don't know what Belle's reaction was though," Gambit mused. "I have no idea what she would have wanted either way. Oh, that's what I was going to mention. Seb got himself a job."

"A job?" Rogue asked curiously

"Oui. Well, to be more accurate, Henri called in a favour to get him a job, but it runs to the same thing," Gambit went on. "He's working as an apprentice chef now."

"Wait, an honest job?" Rogue queried with raised eyebrows. "I'm sorry, I thought by 'job' you meant 'heist'."

Gambit laughed and conversation halted briefly while their waiter came around and asked if they wanted any desserts or coffees. They ordered dessert and conversation continued:

"It was Seb's idea, I understand," Gambit said. "See, we kick people out of the Guild for blabbing Guild secrets. Granted, my identity is a LeBeau secret, not a Guild one, but for all intents and purposes the LeBeaus _are_ the Guild. By taking an honest job, he's basically abdicating. He hasn't formally quit the Guild, mind, it's just that..."

"Are you going to get in trouble for blabbing Guild secrets?" Rogue teased.

"The ascension isn't much of a secret, chère," Gambit replied. "If something were to happen to Henri now, because both Seb and Aimee are under eighteen and neither have done their mastery, Mercy would become Matriarch. If something were to happen after Seb turns eighteen and before Aimee does, Seb _technically_ is supposed to become Patriarch. That's how Julien ended up becoming Patriarch when Bella Donna was supposed to take over: their père, Marius, died one week before Bella Donna turned eighteen."

"Made it by the skin of his teeth huh?"

"Oui."

"Bella Donna never contested?"

"Bella Donna didn't have the same leverage that she does now and I understand that a lot of the Assassins thought she was only going to get the job because we were supposed to unite the Guilds. In any case, Belle preferred to get out there and actually work and travel, rather than settle down with a desk job," Gambit said wryly. "But that's not the point. Seb knows that by choosing to take this job, and not completing his mastery, the leadership will go to Mercy or Aimee over him."

Rogue nodded slowly. "He wanted the job one day."

"Oui. Henri wouldn't have told the Guild what happened to protect _me_, not Seb. Seb could have gone on as if nothing happened," Gambit shrugged and offered a small smile. "I think I'm actually rather proud of him. He realised he did the wrong thing and he's taking the responsibility."

"And of his own initiative," Rogue added.

"Indeed," Gambit nodded.

* * *

Storm looked at Logan as their new teacher, Trey McGraw, departed her office in the care of Jubilee.

"You don't like him," she stated.

"He smells of fear," Logan replied sourly.

"I see. Will he get over it?"

"Too early to tell."

Storm sighed and rubbed her temple.

"I need him, Logan," she said. "He's the first qualified teacher this school has seen in years, and with the baby coming I have to give up classes."

"I know," Logan replied. "He'll either settle in or he won't. I think in the meantime though, we should keep him on need-to-know. He doesn't need to know about Cerebro, or the danger room—"

"Agreed."

"And he doesn't need to know about Rogue and Remy."

"Rogue's primarily your assistant," Storm said thoughtfully. "I'm sure we won't have a problem there, but Remy teaches, Logan. We're not going to be able to hide that for long."

"Shouldn't have to," Logan dismissed with a shrug. "Either he can hack it, or he can't. If he can, we increase his 'security clearance' so to speak. If he can't, he doesn't leave knowing a whole lot of things we don't want made public. His room is in the new half of the teacher's wing, so they shouldn't have any reason to bump into each other either."

* * *

"How are you settling in?" asked Evelyn, standing at Trey's table.

Trey looked up from his book and smiled up at the woman.

"Rather well, thank you," he said. "And you are?"

"Oh pardon me," Evelyn chuckled and took the liberty to sitting down on a nearby chair. "I'm Evelyn Pare. I'm the nurse here. And you're the new History teacher, I understand?"

"That's correct. Trey McGraw."

"A pleasure to meet you."

"Have you been here long?" Trey inquired, setting his book down on the table.

"About a year now. Hank—Dr McCoy—needed help and I needed a place to go with my boy."

"You have a son?"

"Yes, his name's Sammy, although he's taken to calling himself 'Squidboy'," Evelyn replied in amusement. "He's a good kid, and I rather think he's been settling in well here. We both are."

"Well, that's good to know," Trey nodded. "Are you a mutant yourself?"

"Me? No."

"Ahh. So, what was it like then? Having a mutant for a son, I mean."

"I love my boy, Mr McGraw," Evelyn said firmly.

"Of course you do," Trey said quickly. "I meant no disrespect. I was simply wondering, bringing him up, if you had a lot of trouble with his mutantcy? You know, family members, friends, neighbours not understanding."

"Ahh, sorry I misunderstood," Evelyn replied wryly. "You can take that as a 'yes', by the way. Not Sammy's fault by any means, but people will distrust what's different. My husband didn't understand at all, and he was the worst of them, if you ask me. Got picked on a lot at school too, poor boy. This place takes a little getting used to at first, but it's sure nice to be free of the anti-mutant bigotry."

"I imagine it would be," Trey nodded. "I never realised just how much... variety there was in mutations before. Some of the are quite obvious, aren't they?"

"I see you haven't yet met my Sammy," Evelyn replied with a smile. "He has fins."

"Ahh. My apologies, I haven't—"

"There's no need to apologise. There are quite a number of students here, I shouldn't wonder that you don't know everyone yet. Besides, you're right, some of their mutations are much more obvious than others. They're also the ones that seem to receive the worst of the witch hunting, which is a real shame. But then, no one should be victim to a witch hunt."

"Agreed. What about you? Do you specialise in any particular area of nursing?"

"Actually I'm a Nurse Midwife," Evelyn smiled. "Didn't think there'd be a lot of call for a midwife here, but then Storm got pregnant, and now Kitty and Piotr are getting married, so it looks like I may have some work in my field of specialty after all."

"Good for you."

* * *

Gambit walked into his classroom along with Rogue and all the new students at Xaviers who would be doing the sex ed course. Rogue took her customary seat and Gambit sat on his desk while he waited for everyone to finish coming in. Gambit only had a couple of them in for his French classes, and was only passingly familiar with the rest.

"All right then," Gambit began. "I'm Gambit, but you may also call me: The Love Doctor."

He grinned when that comment was followed by the usual snickering.

"You're probably all familiar with Rogue," Gambit went on, gesturing to her. "She's my assistant. Now, before we get started on todays lesson, does anyone have any questions? Oui?"

"Why are you teaching this class?" demanded Hellion, a black-haired boy of about seventeen.

"Because it was either me or Wolverine," Gambit replied cheerfully. "And no one wants sex ed taught by the Wolverine."

"I've had sex. I could teach this class."

Rogue covered her mouth to keep from laughing.

"Congratulations," Gambit said dryly. "I'm thrilled for you."

"I'm just saying I already know this stuff. I don't have to be here."

For a moment the two just looked at each other. Hellion had literally only been at the school a week, so the odds were he didn't yet appreciate Gambit's position here.

"Tell you what kid—" Gambit began.

"Kid?" Hellion repeated incredulously. "I'm older than you!"

"—I'll make a deal with you," Gambit went on like Hellion hadn't said anything and opened up his top drawer. "I have a little test here. If you can get 100% I'll let you skip my class."

"What's to stop me from skipping anyway?"

"This is a boarding school," Gambit pointed out as he found the test and pulled it out. "You can run but you can't hide."

Hellion snorted derisively.

"Of course," Gambit said as he wandered down the rows of chairs to the back where Hellion was sitting. "If you agree to take this test, you also agree that if you get even one question wrong, you have to stay in my class without complaint _and_ when we get to the electronic babies, you agree to be the father of twins."

Rogue raised her eyebrows. Two of those electronic babies for a week? The word 'insane' came to mind.

"Whatever," Hellion replied as he eyed the test speculatively.

"It's really easy," Gambit went on enticingly. "There's only ten questions and they're all multiple choice. Smart kid like you who thinks he can teach this class ought to be able to complete it in a couple of minutes. Unless of course, you're having doubts."

"I can do it," Hellion snapped, practically snatching the test from him.

"Okay, let me know when you're done," Gambit said cheerfully, swaggering to the front of the classroom again. "Now, while Hellion is doing the test, does anyone else have any questions? Anyone? Oui, Rogue?"

It had almost become tradition for an awkward silence to follow whenever Gambit asked the class on the first day if there was any questions, so Rogue would always come up with some silly question to break the tension. Logan's concerns about the class had long been set aside by now, but Gambit felt that her presence in the class helped make things more comfortable and Storm appreciated that the female students had at least one teacher they were comfortable asking questions of.

The next ten minutes was spent getting some of the 'silly' questions out of the way and was interrupted by Hellion calling out "I'm done". Gambit wandered over and took the test.

"Correct, correct, correct, wrong—" he said, glancing over the answers.

"No it's not!" Hellion protested.

"Correct," Gambit went on blithely and turned the page over. "Wrong, wrong, correct, wrong and wrong. Désolé, Hellion, but five out of ten is not a hundred percent."

"That's bogus!" Hellion objected. "Let me do it again."

"Okay," Gambit said agreeably as he wandered to the cupboard. "But if you miss any this time, you're having triplets."

To emphasise the point, he pulled out one of the electronic dolls and switched it on. As if on cue, the baby began to cry. Hellion winced.

"Shall I get a fresh test out for you?" Gambit asked.

Hellion hesitated.

"N-no, I've changed my mind."

"You sure? It's no big deal."

"No, really, I think I'll just stick to our original bargain."

Gambit shrugged, turned the baby off and put it away again. After the last of the 'silly' questions were gotten out of the way, Gambit delved into 'relationships' with the students until the bell rang. Rogue waited for the students to file out, picked herself up and sat on the edge of his desk. Gambit closed the door behind the last of students.

"So, what was that with Hellion before?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh," Gambit chuckled and made his way over to her. "I figured sooner or later we'd get a new student who thought he was too good for the class. I made up that test two years ago. I'm rather pleased at finally having a chance to use it. Oh, and remind me to thank Forge for making up that baby for me."

"The baby?"

"Yeah," Gambit nodded. "Forge was nice enough to make me up a fake baby. It looks like all the other babies, but its sole purpose is to cry 24/7."

Rogue giggled.

"But what would you have done if he had gotten them all right? Would you have really let him skip?" Rogue asked dubiously.

"Was never going to happen," Gambit replied cheerfully. "Impossible. Best you can get is 90%."

Rogue eyed Gambit's grinning face suspiciously.

"What makes you so sure?" she asked.

"Because I wrote the test, Roguey," Gambit said smugly as he ran his hand up her leg, perched on the desk. "And as I said, it's multiple choice. All the answers for the last question are wrong."

"They're all wrong?"

"Oui. They all sound good, like they could be right, but they're still all wrong. Maybe one day some smart kid will realise that and add an 'e' to the list, in which case they probably deserve to skip class, but in the meantime I get to torture the losers with twins."

"Or triplets, if they take it again," Rogue giggled. "You're so mean."

Gambit chuckled wickedly.


	40. Image Inducers and Birthdays

**Chapter 39: Image Inducers and Birthdays**

Forge came pelting down the hallway and burst in through the staff room doors. He took a very quick moment to glance around the room: Gambit, Betsy, Warren, Sam, Tabitha, Jubilee, Kitty, Pete, Tracy, Emma, Logan and the person he was looking for; Storm, being given a gentle backrub by Rogue.

"I've got it!" Forge yelled. "Storm! I've got it! It's done! It works!"

"Forge," Storm said patiently. "Do calm down. What is it?"

Forge ran up to her with his hand outstretched. One of the things that had come with the expansion to the mansion was a lab just for Forge. This had been conditional upon him not allowing the students access to the adult channels any more (amongst other things). Forge spent most of his time in there, and had come up with a few interesting knickknacks and upgrades since, but this was the first time he'd ever emerged this excited.

"Okay check this out. Look at me. I'm my normal, every day self, but when I touch this button," Forge said, then pressed a button on his watch and instantly his appearance altered to that of Batman. "I'm the Dark Knight."

"Oh cool," Jubilee said. "Hey can you turn into Robin too?"

"No, this one only does Batman," Forge replied excitedly. "But I could program a Robin."

"Yay!"

"That's a neat party trick," Logan drawled.

"Party trick?" Forge repeated. "Don't you get it, Logan? The image inducer is more than just a mere _party trick_. It's an instant disguise. Just needs to be programmed in advance but after that, a press of the button is all that's needed to change your appearance. Logan, Storm, I know that most of the people in the local area are used to us by now, but what about elsewhere? This means that Hank can walk down the street without being stared at like he's a blue-furred gorilla. Warren can go out without having to strap down his wings. Heck, I could even make a small one for Remy so that he doesn't have to use sunglasses all the time."

Gambit raised an eyebrow.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Betsy said, her voice dripping with disgust. "You're actually going to pander to human sensibilities by hiding behind these things? _They_ need to get used to _us_, not the other way around. We have no reason to be ashamed of who we are."

"I'm sure that Forge isn't suggesting that we should be," Storm spoke up before an argument could break out. "However, there is a matter of personal safety to attend to. The general public opinion towards mutants has certainly improved since the Mutant Registration Act failed, as well with the Cure, but these things don't just go away overnight, as many at this school can attest. Some further education is required."

"Yes," Betsy agreed. "They need to be educated out of this latest incarnation of racism. We're not going to get anywhere if we're constantly hiding."

"That's easy for you to say," Warren said. "When you walk down the street people see a beautiful woman, not a freak."

"You're not a freak, Warren," Betsy snapped, then glared at the room. "None of us are."

There was silence as Betsy stormed out of the room and the door telekinetically slammed shut behind her.

"I, uhh, was just trying to help..." Forge said quietly as he pressed the button to turn off the Batman disguise.

"I know Forge," Storm said patiently. "And you have. Betsy feels quite passionately about this and that's a good thing. We need people who feel passionate about what they believe in. However, sometimes passion gets in the way of reality. The fact is that there are places where it simply isn't safe to be visually a mutant. Just like there are some places where it's not safe for a woman to walk alone, or for children to be at night. How do these... image inducers work?"

"Oh, well it's just a hologram, like in the danger room," Forge explained. "Of course, it's only a change in appearance, so if anyone touches you they'll feel what you actually feel like. So if Warren uses one and anyone touches his back they'll go 'oh this feels like feathers' instead of 'oh this feels all materially', but yeah. Anyway, as you can see, this one's in the form of a watch which is probably the most convenient form because not only can it turn me into Batman, it can also tell me the time, but it could take any form really. Necklace maybe. Needs to be big enough to fit all the components and have something to switch it on and off."

"And it's safe?" Storm asked. "We're not going to be exposing the user or the people around them to...radiation or something?"

"No, no perfectly safe," Forge insisted. "Well, as far as I know it's safe. I mean, I haven't had long enough to test for any long-term side effects, but no one's ever suffered from the danger room. Well, okay they have if by 'suffered' you mean 'been pushed by Logan', but in terms of exposure to the holograms in the danger room, no emissions or anything you need to worry about."

"Hmm, well, I'd like to know more about them before we start handing them out to students who could make use of them. In the meantime, I think... Could you make one up for Remy as a test?"

"Me?" Gambit said, looking at her in surprise. "Don't take this the wrong way, I think it's a great invention there, Forge, but I'm not interested. I went over twenty years walking around with the wrong pair of eyes."

"Actually," Storm said. "I was thinking more of an adult body for you, at least until we can be sure that Trey isn't going to run a bunk on us."

"Oh I could do that," Forge said quickly with confidence. "I just need some pictures of your adult self—you know, to get the detail right. Preferably all angles."

"And you want me to what? Wear it around all the time, or just when I'm around Trey?" Gambit asked.

"Just when you need to be a fellow teacher around him," Storm confirmed.

"What about classes?"

"I'll leave that up to your discretion."

Gambit shrugged.

"Okay then," he said. "I guess I'd better hunt up some photos."

* * *

"Betsy? Betsy!" Warren called.

"What?" Betsy demanded, turning on her heel to glare back at him.

"I'm not ashamed of my wings," Warren said staunchly. "I don't think I'm a freak either."

"Then stop acting like you do," she snapped. "Stop pandering to the masses and hiding who you really are."

"We all hide who we really are," Warren said and tapped his chest. "Who we are is in here, not out here. You should know that. You're not even in your original body."

"Don't remind me," Betsy said bitterly.

"I wouldn't have to if you could just see reason."

"_I_ need to see reason? What about mmfft-"

Betsy's indignant exclamation was cut off by Warren's lips crashing down on hers. His hands cupped her face, and once she got over the shock, Betsy lifted her arms and wrapped them about his neck. After a moment they pulled away.

"That was just to shut you up," Warren told her sharply.

A smile quirked at the corner of Betsy's mouth.

"Yeah, right," she said.

Then it was Betsy's turn to kiss Warren.

* * *

Gambit pressed the button on the watch and glanced up in the mirror to check his reflection.

"Well now," Storm said. "There's a sight I haven't seen for awhile."

"Yeah," Gambit agreed. "No pimples."

Storm laughed and Gambit grinned at her, knowing full well that wasn't what she meant.

"Hmm," Gambit considered. "Forge? I think this thing needs some adjustments. My hair's longer than it was in the picture."

He demonstrated by taking hold of the end of his hair. Rogue giggled as the holographic image of Gambit's hair lifted up with his hand two inches away from it.

"Oh well, that's easy fixed," Forge assured him. "Anything else you notice?"

"You gave me brown eyes."

"Ahh, well, I was working off the photos you gave me. I can change that too if you really want?"

Gambit considered the matter seriously and tapped his foot for a moment.

"No," he said finally. "As much as I'd hate to admit it, the brown eyes are less memorable, and I have no interest in using this...image in the long term. So Roguey, what do you think of me being forty-one?"

"Eh," Rogue teased him. "You're old enough to be my father."

"No one's that old," Gambit replied, winking at Logan who rolled his eyes. "Well then, if you want to make the hair adjustment Forge, I guess I'll go introduce myself to Trey. He's probably wondering why he hasn't seen me around."

"Just make like you're always off-campus chasing skirts," Rogue suggested.

"So you're saying he should just be himself?" Logan taunted.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea," Gambit mused, switching off the image inducer and handing it back to Forge. "Remy the First is the womaniser who's practically never around. Remy the Second, on the other hand, has a high school sweetheart."

Rogue laughed.

"How does this thing go for clothes, anyway?" Gambit asked Forge.

"Has to be pre-programmed," Forge replied.

"That much I gathered. Multiple outfits, or just one?"

"Just one," Forge considered. "I suppose I could reprogram to include multiple outfits but—"

"Let's just stick with the one for now," Storm said. "It is just a test."

"Just curious, is all," Gambit said. "Because what I would wear around the school would be different from what I would wear going out on a date, so..."

"Oh it's no problem," Forge assured Storm. "Just need a day or so to make the modification. Oh, and I need to program the other outfit too."

"Well, at least I don't have to worry about keeping a low profile any more," Gambit went on. "Although I expect he will wonder why Remy the Second isn't in any of his classes."

"That's a good point, Squeaky," Logan smirked at him.

"Ah ha ha ha, you know what's a better point? I already checked the class schedule. The ninth-graders history classes occasionally conflict with my French classes," Gambit smirked at him. "You think I would risk bringing that up to you if I didn't already know it wasn't going to happen?"

"There's always next year."

"Hopefully by next year we'll know for sure if Trey's going to stick around, and there will be no need for further deception," Storm said firmly.

"Have you tried asking what Emma and Betsy think?" Rogue asked curiously.

"Neither of them feel there's any reason to be concerned at this point," Storm replied. "Emma seems to think he's a little overwhelmed at being around so many mutants, but that's about it. Neither of them plan to go deeper than what's broadcasted unless they have a legitimate reason to do so, or he gives permission."

"That's fair," Rogue nodded.

* * *

Like every other teacher at the school, Trey also had to do his share of kitchen duty, and it was while he was on for dinner that Gambit, cleverly disguised as himself, made his move. Gambit just waltzed right into the kitchen and headed for the liquor cabinet at the back just as Trey had finished giving assignments to the students.

"Uhh, excuse me?" Trey said, moving to intercept.

Gambit ignored him and punched in the code for the cabinet.

"Just what do you think you're—oh," Trey cut himself off as he got a look at Gambit's face. "Sorry, I thought you were one of the students. I don't believe we've met?"

"Remy LeBeau," Gambit said.

"Trey McGraw. You're the French teacher right?"

"Oui m'sieur, and sex ed. Ah ha!" Gambit exclaimed with pleasure and pulled out a bottle of champagne. "And speaking of which, if you'll excuse me, I have a 'night class' to teach."

"Oh..." Trey replied with a quick glance at that bottle. "You uhh, teach many 'night classes'?"

"Tsk tsk," Gambit smirked at him. "Now that would be telling, mon ami."

* * *

A little after four in the morning, Gambit was making his way down to the danger room for his usual early morning sessions when he saw that there were more lights than usual on in the med lab. Curious, he opened up the door and spotted Jones sitting on one of the chairs, playing with a handheld game.

"Hey," Gambit said. "What's going on?"

"Storm's having the baby," Jones reported proudly. "Storm and Logan and Mrs Pare are in there right now."

"Ahh. How long they've been in there for?"

"Hours," Jones sighed. "Hours and hours and hours."

"I see."

"Just how long does labour take, anyway?"

"Hours and hours and hours," Gambit replied, winking at him.

"Ugh. I'm glad I'm not a girl," Jones said in disgust.

"You and me both," Gambit chuckled. "But in fairness, part of it depends on whether it's your first kid or not, and some women are luckier than others. First babies take longer. This is the downside to movies and TV shows, Jones. They like to skip details like that."

"Yeah," Jones nodded. "I've noticed that. Oh, by the way, we're on the secondary generators at the moment. Storm knocked the power out."

"Ahh, thanks for the notice."

Gambit sat with Jones for a while, tossing up between checking on the power situation or sticking around. Just as he was thinking it was pointless him hanging around, Evelyn opened up the door.

"You can come in now, Jones," she said. "Oh, hi Remy."

"Bonjour," Gambit said pleasantly, standing up. "How'd everything go?"

"Just fine. Both mother and baby are doing well."

"And the father?"

Evelyn laughed as Jones tentatively stepped through the door.

"Logan's doing fine as well," she smiled at Gambit.

"Darn," Gambit joked as he followed Jones and caught Logan's eyes. "I was hoping I could taunt him about fainting."

"Very funny, Squeaky," Logan replied, but more with amusement than anything else.

"Hi Remy," Storm said, not bothering to look up from the tiny bundle in her arms.

"Hey," he said softly. "Congratulations. So, uhh, boy or girl?"

"Yeah, congratulations," Jones added as he peered over.

"Daughter," Logan replied, his voice unusually full of warmth. "We're naming her Kendall."

* * *

"Really?" Rogue said later at breakfast. "Today?"

"Oui," Gambit replied. "Just a couple of hours ago."

"Wow, that's funny," she mused.

"It is?" Gambit blinked. "Well, I can't say I've ever heard the birth of a child being funny before. Miraculous, wonderful, exciting, all of those kinds of words, but not 'funny'."

Rogue giggled.

"It's the eleventh of April today," she told him.

"This I know."

"So, technically, this is my twenty-second birthday."

"Oh," Gambit replied, then his eyes lit up. "Oooooh."

Rogue laughed.

"See?" she said. "I thought you'd appreciate that."

* * *

Ten days later, Rogue celebrated her sixteenth birthday. Different ones gave her presents over breakfast, including Gambit who gave her a shirt that said "Everyone's Entitled to be Stupid, but You've Abused the Privilege." That evening, Gambit knocked on Rogue's door, and she opened it to find him with his image inducer activated.

"Oh hi Mr LeBeau," Rogue drawled. "I'm sorry, I was expecting your son, not you."

"I thought it was about time I found out what your intentions were towards my boy," Gambit teased her.

"Well, I'd show you," Rogue replied saucily. "But you're the father of my boyfriend, and that kind of behaviour's pretty creepy."

She started to close the door, but Gambit caught it, putting both foot and hand in the way. He poked out his bottom lip at her.

"Not gonna let me in, chère?" he asked in a pathetic voice.

"Turn that damn thing off," was her retort as she stepped away from the door.

Gambit chuckled and pressed the appropriate button on his watch as he stepped inside.

"Better?" he asked her as he closed the door behind him.

"Much," Rogue nodded.

"You prefer the zits, huh?"

"Don't get me wrong, sugar," Rogue said and slid her arms around him. "They don't really do a whole lot for me, but I'm dating _you_, not that other guy."

"Mmm, I'm going to look like 'that other guy' for real one day," Gambit replied and kissed her lips softly.

"_One_ day, not _to_day," Rogue insisted. "Remy, c'mon. Regardless of what the situation is, that was on the level with 'getting hit on by boyfriend's father' and was completely wrong. No matter how attractive I may or may not think you look."

"Okay, I take the point," Gambit replied, moving his kisses to her neck. "I won't do that to you again."

"Thank you. Now I've had a hard day in the danger room and I've been really looking forward to this massage."

"That your way of saying you want to go first?"

"Happy birthday to me."

Gambit chuckled softly as his hands reached down to pull her shirt up. He stopped kissing Rogue just long enough to take her shirt up over her head. Rogue arched her back, savouring the feel of his hands on her skin. Abruptly, Rogue was up in the air and Gambit grinned at her as he carried her to the bed.

"When are you going to grow out of these C-cups, chère?" he teased her.

"Seventeen, eighteen, something like that," Rogue smirked at him. "And it's my back that needs the massage."

Gambit chuckled and rolled Rogue over, undid the back of her bra with his usual deftness and straddled her. Rogue let out an involuntary moan as Gambit's hands found the knots in her back.

"Got the spot, did I?" he asked.

"Uh huh."

Gambit delighted in the symphony of moans and groans that emerged from Rogue's lips as his hands located all the sore spots across her back. Towards the end of the massage, he leaned forward and laid on top of her. Rogue giggled slightly and he kissed the back of her neck and ran his hands up and down her sides. The kisses continued down her neck across her shoulders and to her shoulder blades. His fingers grazed the sides of her breasts briefly and made their way back to her hips. He kissed down her spine then—reluctantly—did her bra back up and flipped her over.

Rogue smiled up at Gambit as he looked down at her. He leaned into her and as his lip grazed hers he uttered only two words before he came crashing down on her once more: "Happy Birthday."

* * *

**AN: **Okay, those of you who have read _Penetrating the Engine Core_ have met Kendall before. Kendall is actually Storm and Logan's daughter in a "What if...?" comic book.


	41. Insinuations Are Fun

**Chapter 40: Insinuations Are Fun**

Craig Simpson drove up to the gates of the Xavier school in the middle of the school day. He wound down the window and hit the button labelled "Press Me for Intercom".

"Hello, can I help you?" asked the voice of a young woman, surprisingly clear.

"Craig Simpson, here to see Ororo Monroe," he said.

"Craig Simpson... Oh! You're the new counsellor."

"That's right."

"Okay, come on through."

Craig looked up to see the gates begin to open.

"Thank you," he said.

There was no response and as soon as the gates opened wide enough, Craig drove down the driveway. He stopped just outside the front door which opened just as he was walking up the stairs.

"Hi, I'm Angelica," said the young woman. "Ms Monroe will be with you in a minute. Come on in."

Craig stepped through the door and took a moment to look around at the well-to-do foyer before following Angelica into the office. Angelica gestured to a seat by a small table and Craig sat down while she pulled out a file and then got back to work filing other things. After a minute, Storm emerged from the office.

"Angelica? Kendall's asleep, if you could keep an ear out for her?" Storm asked.

"No problemo," Angelica replied cheerfully and then gestured. "This is, of course, Craig Simpson, and the file you want is over here."

"Thanks dear," Storm replied, and finally turned to Craig. "Sorry about the wait. I'm Ororo Monroe, but most people around here call me Storm."

"Craig Simpson," he said, standing up to shake her hand. "Most people call me Craig."

"A pleasure to meet you," Storm said and picked up the file. "We should get the necessary paperwork out of the way—"

"Of course."

"—And then Tabitha will show you around. Angelica?"

"Already called her," Angelica replied.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," Storm smiled.

* * *

"And finally," Tabitha said cheerfully as she stopped out front of a door after a tour of the upper floors of the school. "This is your new office. You know, in case the words 'School Counsellor' on the door didn't give it away."

Tabitha giggled as she pulled out a key and unlocked the door.

"Storm should have given you a key already...?"

"Ahh, yes," Craig replied.

"Okay, well, this is your office then. I have no idea what kind of stuff you need in here, but hey, we have a bookcase and a desk, a computer, a couch a filing cabinet... Let Angelica know if there's anything else you need," Tabitha grinned at him. "She took on the job as secretary just to 'help out' until we could get 'a real one that knows what she's doing'... Yeah, that was two years ago and now no one wants to replace her."

"That's always the way, isn't it?" Craig chuckled.

"Yep," Tabitha replied cheerfully. "All right then—"

"By the way, my car is still parked out front..."

"Oh, you probably want to know where to keep that, huh?"

"That would be nice."

"Well, the only two places I haven't show you yet are the med lab—"

"Med lab?"

"And the garage, so we'll check out the med lab first and then the garage and then you can unpack," Tabitha said cheerfully as she lead the way. "Yeah, we have our own medical facilities. It's partly because a lot of hospitals have this annoying habit of freaking out when they realise they're treating a mutant. We're also equipped to deal with developing mutations though, which is something none of the medical places around here deal with at all, so yeah."

The med lab was pretty much the first thing you saw when you got down the elevator, and it was because of this that Craig didn't really notice the hallway leading to the danger room and Cerebro. After a quick introduction to Evelyn (Hank was busy teaching science class), Tabitha then led Craig back up to the garage where Rogue and Logan were busy conducting a shop class. Rogue noticed them come in and wandered over while Logan continued.

"Rogue, this is Craig Simpson, he's the new school counsellor," Tabitha said. "Craig, this is Rogue. She's Logan's assistant. Logan's the scary guy over there, and Storm's husband."

"Yes," Rogue joked. "Logan's scary. Storm losing control of her emotions is scary. I fear for Kendall."

Tabitha giggled.

"I heard that Rogue," Logan called.

"You were supposed to," Rogue called back.

"See, if anyone else said that, they'd be dead," Tabitha sighed. "Anyway, Craig wants to know where he can park his car."

"Oh right," Rogue said. "This way."

Craig and Tabitha followed her out of the shop and into a half-full, multi-car garage.

"Okay," Rogue said and pointed. "The yellow area marked 'loading bay'? That's the loading bay. Strictly for loading and unloading vehicles, not parking them all day. Tabby."

"Who? Me?" Tabitha giggled.

"Yeah. You," Rogue replied. "Otherwise, pick a spot and she's yours. Logan's a licensed mechanic, so when she needs a service just let him or me know. Or, you can go elsewhere if you want. We won't mind either way."

"Well, thanks a lot," Craig said. "Uhh, if you wouldn't mind showing me my way back to my car?"

Tabitha laughed.

"Yep, and I can even show you the way back to your room, if you want," she said. "Don't worry, you'll soon know this place like the back of your hand."

"I sure hope so."

* * *

Gambit frowned as he looked at the new school counsellor in the dining hall. It was towards the end of the meal and people were starting to file out.

"What is it?" Rogue asked him finally. "You've been staring at Craig all evening."

"Oh it's just..." Gambit paused, then shrugged. "I think I know him from somewhere, and it's bothering me."

"Ahh. Can't figure out where, huh?"

"Nope. Maybe he's someone I robbed once? Although why would I rob a school counsellor?" he considered seriously. "Rich parents maybe?"

Rogue giggled.

"Maybe you should introduce yourself and see if he recognises your name?" she suggested.

"Well, I suppose I could do that. He's gonna hear it anyway," Gambit conceded. "All right then."

He got up and wandered over to the table where Craig was sitting with Storm, Emma, Evelyn, Hank and Trey. Logan was busy minding Kendall in the rooms he shared with Storm up on the top floor of the mansion.

"Hi Stormy," Gambit said cheerfully, once they reached the table. "How's Kendall?"

"She's good, thank you," Storm replied.

"Oh hey," Gambit went on as if he'd only just noticed Craig. "You must be the new school counsellor. I'm Remy. Remy LeBeau."

"Craig Simpson," Craig replied, regarding him curiously. "You know, I used to know a Remy LeBeau. He was a mutant too. Didn't have those eyes though."

"Actually, Remy's father teaches here too," Trey put in helpfully. "Different eyes, but otherwise they're the splitting image of each other. You won't believe the number of times I've seen the back of one and thought it to be Remy the Second, only for it to turn out to be Remy the First."

"Père was born with my eyes, but he was subject to mutant experimentation when he was my age," Gambit explained with a shrug, glad he'd decided to keep the brown eyes in his older image.

"Ahh," Craig nodded.

"So, where do you know Père from?" Gambit asked curiously. "Did he used to date your sister or something?"

"No, I don't have a sister. We used to play poker. So, where is your 'Père'?"

"Hmm, this time of night?" Gambit mused, glancing at the clock. "Well, if it's not poker, then he's probably at a bar looking for someone to screw. Or he might have gotten in early and already be screwing someone."

"Remy," Stormy said, hiding a smile. "Really, you shouldn't talk about your father that way."

"Why not? We all know it's true," Gambit replied merrily. "He sleeps around so much, I'm afraid I might date my own sister one day and not know it. Good thing we know Roguey's Logan's daughter right?"

Rogue giggled.

"Oh, I didn't realise you and Logan were related," Craig said.

"I take after my mother," Rogue replied.

"Does your father know you talk about him like this?" Trey asked Gambit curiously.

"Oh sure," Gambit replied cheerfully. "You should hear him go on about me. Says I'm far too young to have a steady girlfriend. And what would he know about that anyway, I ask you? The last 'steady relationship' he had only lasted six weeks. I'm surprised he can hold down a steady job. Speaking of which, why is Père the sex ed teacher, Stormy? You know, Mr Simpson, you might have some serious counselling to do once he's done. Good thing the course only goes for a few weeks, right?"

"Let's not get carried away now, Swamp Rat," Rogue mused.

"But I'm having fun ragging on mon père," Gambit complained. "It's the duty of every teenager to complain about their parents. Speaking of which, you don't complain about Logan nearly enough."

"I don't have to complain about him," Rogue nodded. "Everyone else does for me."

"You raise a good point," Gambit considered, stroking his chin.

"I should definitely catch up with your father," Craig said. "I'd like to know how he conducts the course, and of course, he'll know all the places to play poker around here."

"Good luck finding him," Gambit said cheerfully. "He's never around when you need him. In fact, I feel like I never see him these days. I don't think anyone's seen us in the same room at the same time in ages."

Emma started chuckling. Rogue caught her eyes and joined in laughing, as did Evelyn. Craig and Trey looked confused while Storm remained composed. Gambit just grinned at everyone.

"Private joke," Storm explained. "Remy's sex ed courses are done for the year—"

"Except for the 'night class'," Gambit piped up.

"And won't start again until after the summer," Storm continued. "Remy, I think that's quite enough insinuations for one evening."

"Aww, but insinuations are fun, Stormy."

"Please don't call me that."

"Okay Stormy."

Storm shook her head and sighed. "I get quite enough of that from your father."

Rogue burst into another round of giggles.

"It's a Remy LeBeau trait," Gambit replied cheerfully. "You watch, when Roguey and I get married and have Remy LeBeau the Third, he'll call you Stormy too."

"We're gonna do what now?" Rogue demanded.

"Oh right," Gambit joked. "We're gonna skip the wedding and go straight to the knocking up."

"The only reason why you're even daring to say such things is because Logan's not here," Rogue said darkly.

"Do I look suicidal?"

"Yes."

"Hmm, I'll have to work on that."

"Yes you will."

"I want to look full of life when I say stuff around Logan that's likely to get me killed."

"I'm just surprised we haven't gotten another sterile joke from you, Rogue," Storm said.

"I know," Rogue sighed. "It was such a great opportunity to say something like: 'Well, we all know you won't be the father' or 'Yeah, we're gonna adopt'. Oh, or better one: 'Your father will have to donate the sperm then, 'cause we all know your sperm is useless'."

"Hey!" Gambit objected.

"Sadly," Rogue went on. "I promised him I'd stop making sterile jokes. So as much as I would love to say 'Remy LeBeau the Third will have to be a test tube baby', I will honour my promise not to make any more cracks about his ability to have children."

Gambit pulled a face at her and Rogue just laughed at him.

* * *

Rictor glanced at the clock. Yes, the bell should ring any minute now. Any minute. Any second... hurry up and ring you stupid bell!

His mental frustration at still being stuck in class was interrupted by a pause in Gambit's instruction. There was nervous giggling as he pressed a button on his watch and abruptly doubled in age. Forge always came up with the coolest inventions.

Finally the bell rang and as Rictor eagerly packed up and lead the way out of the door he passed by the new school counsellor. Craig waited for all the students to leave and then entered the room. After weeks of not being able to catch "Remy the First", Craig had finally decided the best time to get him would be after a class.

"Uhh, Remy?" Craig inquired tentatively.

Gambit looked up at him from organising his desk.

"Oui?" Gambit inquired. "Do I know you?"

"Craig. Craig Simpson," he said. "We used to play poker...?"

"I've played poker with a lot of people over the years, mon ami," Gambit replied in amusement. "You'll have to be more specific."

"Motor City casino, in Detroit."

"Ahh," Gambit said, snapping his fingers. "Oui, I remember you now. Been awhile."

"That is has," Craig agreed. "Anyway, I'm the new school counsellor here."

"Oh right," Gambit replied cheerfully. "I heard Stormy finally managed to get one of those. Welcome to the madhouse."

"Thank you. I understand that you're teaching sex ed as well as French?"

"Oui. And speaking of which," Gambit added with a smirk. "I'm afraid I can't stay long. I have a private lesson to give tonight."

"I see."

"I have a date."

"I gathered that," Craig replied, bemused. "You seem to go out a lot."

"Let's see... go out on a date with my woman, or stay at the school. Which would you choose?" Gambit teased him. "No offence, mon ami, but I'm here for two reasons: Remy and Stormy.

"Uh huh, well, when you're available I'd like to go over how you conduct the sex ed course?"

"Désolé, I don't swing that way," Gambit replied, then laughed when he saw the look on Craig's face. "I'm just messing with you. Everything to do with the course is over there. I haven't really changed anything from what it was when I first started. Since it's a bit of an embarrassing topic for some people, I try to keep the kids as comfortable as possible. You know, let them ask silly questions without making them feel stupid or anything. I also keep my extracurriculars out of it, by the by, so there's no need to be concerned there."

"Good to know," Craig said, making his way to the cupboard. "May I?"

"Go right ahead. Just make sure you put everything back exactly where you found it before school starts again in September," Gambit said cheerfully. "Or I'll sic one of the dolls on you. And don't think I won't do it."

Craig laughed and Gambit watched him. As much fun as it was play two people at once, this was only a temporary situation until both Craig and Trey had settled in. Likely if the two had problems settling in and ran off then his secret would be protected, but by the same token, they were also likely to be annoyed at being deceived if they stuck around. It would be interesting to see how it would all play out.

* * *

The weeks towards the end of the school year began to fly past, and before anyone knew it, Pete and Kitty's families had arrived from Russia and Chicago respectively for the impending wedding. Both families and Kitty's maid of honour were put up in guest rooms. Kitty and Pete got taken out on their hen and stag nights and all of a sudden Kitty found herself waiting with her bridesmaids to go down the aisle.

"You know something?" Kitty said nervously. "I don't know if I want to do this."

"Of course you do," Jubilee said. "It's just cold feet. You and Pete are perfect for each other."

"Just hitting you is it, Kitty?" asked Julia—the maid of honour. "You haven't been nervous at all until now."

"Yep," Kitty nodded. "In fact I think I kinda wanna throw up."

"Well, phase if you do," Rogue advised. "Then you won't get any on that pretty dress of yours."

"Thanks for the help," Kitty said dryly.

"You're gonna be fun, hun," Julia said. "You're gonna walk down that aisle and look at your man and all of the nerves will just disappear. Trust me."

"You're not married," Kitty pointed out.

"Granted, but I do know all about stage fright," Julia replied cheerfully. "It's like, backstage you're all nerves, but once you step foot on the stage all of that goes away."

The music began to play and Rogue grinned at Kitty.

"That would be my cue," she said. "Hey, Kitty, you're gonna be fine."

"Thanks," Kitty said, after taking a deep breath.

Rogue stepped out down the aisle in the pretty pink bridesmaid gown she was wearing. A small bouquet of flowers was in her hands. Gambit caught her eye as she neared and winked at her. Rogue just smiled back. She moved to her position opposite Warren. A few moments later, Jubilee joined her, then Julia and finally Kitty made it down the aisle. As Julia had predicted, the moment Kitty's eyes fell on Pete, all her nerves settled down.

Rogue watched the ceremony with a silly smile on her face. She loved weddings. She smirked at Jubilee when she started sniffling. Jubilee just poked her tongue out at her.

Then the ceremony came to an end. Kitty and Pete shared their first kiss as husband and wife (with the usual smart comments from the peanut gallery) and then walked down the aisle together, arm in arm. Julia joined arms with Mikhail, Pete's brother, Jubilee with Bobby and Rogue with Warren.

* * *

"I'm hurt, chère," Gambit said, giving Rogue a pouty look as he approached.

"Why's that, Swamp Rat?" Rogue asked.

"You've been seeing other men."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied with a smirk as she got up from her chair at the reception.

"You know," Gambit said dourly, and then gestured to Warren with his thumb. "Flyboy over there."

"Who? Warren? Nah, he's way too pretty for my tastes."

Gambit laughed.

"Now, Sam on the other hand..." Rogue went on cheekily.

"I'm not worried about Sam," Gambit dismissed. "He wouldn't move in on another man's woman."

"Huh," Rogue mused, looking out on the dance floor towards Sam and Angelica. "You sure about that?"

"Hmm?" Gambit asked, turning his head to see what Rogue was looking at. "Oh they're just friends."

Sam and Angelica kissed.

"You were saying?" Rogue drawled, sounding calmer than she felt.

"Okay," Gambit said. "In the face of overwhelming evidence, I can admit I was wrong."

"I wonder how long before Bobby—oh there he goes," Rogue said, watching Bobby stalk angrily towards his soon-to-be-ex-girlfriend. "This isn't going to end well."

"We should probably break them up before they cause a scene and ruin the wedding," Gambit nodded.

"Probably," Rogue agreed.

Neither moved while Sam, Bobby and Angelica dissolved into a three-way shouting match.

"It's like watching a train wreck," Gambit decided.

Abruptly, everyone in the hall covered their ears as a piecing scream filled the air. The noise cut off just as quickly and Gambit and Rogue looked up again just in time to see Tracy berating the three. Gambit snickered.

"Hmm," Gambit mused when Tracy finished breaking them up. "So, what was that you were saying about Sam?"

"Never mind."

* * *

"Bobby?" Rogue said softly, about ten minutes later.

Bobby looked up from the bench he'd found outside.

"Hey," he said and looked back down at his feet.

Rogue sat down beside him and for a moment neither said a word.

"Stupid question, but are you okay?" Rogue asked finally.

"No," Bobby snapped, then realised that had come out meaner than he intended. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Rogue replied. "I get it. Once I—this is going to sound stupid—I thought you were cheating on me with Kitty."

"What?" Bobby blinked. "Where would you get a crazy idea like that?"

Rogue giggled and waved a hand.

"It was right before I got the Cure and you were spending all that time with Kitty," she said. "I mean, I _knew_ you were just being nice and all 'cause she was homesick and stuff and nothing was going on, but it was just... seeing you with another girl, knowing you couldn't touch me. It sucked."

"Hmph," Bobby snorted. "Wouldn't have had to if she and Pete hadn't been fighting."

"And see? Look what happened to them," Rogue grinned.

"Yeah," he sighed. "I still regret breaking up with you."

"Well, you did the right thing," Rogue said firmly. "I mean, it hurt at the time, but you were still right, and I think were our places reversed I would have done the same."

"Doesn't really make me feel any better."

"Oh well, in that case I won't tell you that I've fallen madly in love with Remy and probably would have broken up with you any way, because what I feel for him way overpowers anything I ever felt for you," Rogue said, only half-joking.

"Yeah, I'd appreciate not hearing that," Bobby said dourly. "Especially after... You know what she said to me?"

"What?"

"That it was all a misunderstanding. She didn't think we were dating exclusively or anything."

"Well... that sucks."

"You're telling me."

"Maybe you need to work on the communication with the next girl."

"Yeah, next girl," Bobby snorted. "I should have known things between us wouldn't work out. C'mon, _Ice_man? _Fire_star? It was doomed to failure from the start."

"Ask Tabby out," Rogue advised. "She won't care if she's a rebound."

Bobby laughed.

"Hey," Rogue went on, taking his hand. "You're a great guy, Bobby. Don't let anyone ever tell you anything different. You're smart, you have a great sense of humour and you're probably one of the most caring guys I know. You'll find someone."

"Thanks, Rogue," Bobby said quietly.

"No problem. Now, I say we get back inside before people start talking," Rogue grinned at him. "I'm sure Remy's dying to make insinuations about me going out the back with my ex-boyfriend."

Bobby chuckled knowingly.


	42. What Happened to Jimmy

**Chapter 41: What Happened to Jimmy**

A couple of days later, Rogue and Gambit were in the rec room with the students who were staying over the summer. It was pouring with rain outside (Storm disclaimed any involvement). Someone had pulled out Twister and now a game was in progress with Gambit, Jimmy, Risque and Artie on the mat and Rogue with the spinner.

"Left hand, blue," Rogue called out.

She watched with amusement as the four attempted to move their left hands to the blue dots. Of them, Gambit was the one who seemed to have the least trouble, and Rogue opted to attribute this to the fact that he was a good acrobat. Artie might have done better if not for Jimmy's powers negating his mutation-enhanced flexibility and agility.

"Right foot, yellow."

At first Gambit had been a little nervous around Jimmy, knowing he was the source of the Cure. After having endured rapid aging, and even faster regressing, Gambit didn't care to repeat the experience. However, Hank had assured him that the only thing Jimmy's power and the Cure had in common was Jimmy's DNA and the only one who was really at any risk was Logan. With his healing factor turned off, Logan risked death by adamantium poisoning, but even then it would take a few days of constant exposure.

"Right hand, red."

"Oof!" Risque complained, her butt hitting the ground with a thud. "Aww, I don't wanna be out."

"Sorry Risque," Rogue grinned at her. "Okay...left hand, yellow."

Risque sat down by Rogue and watched while the boys shifted moved their left hands to the yellow dots.

"Left leg, green."

Artie teetered, but managed to keep his place.

"Right leg, blue."

"Argh, not the splits," Jimmy complained.

Risque giggled as Rogue flicked the spinner.

"Right hand, yellow."

"They look like runners about to start a race," Risque decided.

"Yeah," Rogue agreed. "Left hand, green."

Artie hit the mat.

"You're out, Artie," Rogue grinned at him.

"Darn," Artie huffed.

"Left leg, yellow," Rogue announced, followed by "Left hand, red."

Jimmy moved his arm behind him to snag the red dot. It was at that moment that Gambit saw something odd on the inside of Jimmy's elbow.

"Right leg, red."

Jimmy started to move his right leg up and promptly lost his balance.

"Remy wins," Rogue cheered. "My turn now."

As Jimmy and Gambit got up, Gambit grabbed hold of Jimmy's arm. Jimmy looked at him in confusion while Gambit inspected the elbow join on his left arm.

"What's this?" Gambit asked, his voice foreboding as he pointed to a small puncture mark.

"Huh?" Jimmy said, then looked. "Oh, that. I don't know. My arm was a bit sore when I woke up this morning and that was there."

"You don't know," Gambit repeated.

Rogue, Artie and Risque looked at each other.

"Jimmy, are you doing drugs?" Gambit asked.

"What? No!" Jimmy objected, reefing his hand free. "I wouldn't... I'm not... It's just a sore!"

"I'm not accusing you of anything, but puncture marks like that are very suspicious—especially ones that 'just happen'."

"I'm not—"

"So we're going to head down to the med lab and get it checked out," Gambit went on, putting his arm across Jimmy's shoulders.

"I didn't do anything wrong," Jimmy insisted.

"Good, then you have nothing to worry about."

* * *

Sometime later:

Jimmy looked up from the bed and glared at Gambit as he walked in.

"Good news," Gambit said. "No drugs in your system."

"I told you so," Jimmy replied sourly.

"You know I had to ask, Jimmy," Gambit said patiently. "I'm your teacher and your classmate, and occasionally your friend. C'mon,if you had seen a puncture mark on my arm, wouldn't you ask?"

Jimmy wasn't really sure what to say to that. Gambit chuckled briefly and then became sober.

"Look, Jimmy," he went on seriously. "It might just be innocent, but right now we have to assume that someone got to you. Have you noticed anyone hanging around you a lot lately? Felt like you've been followed, anything like that?"

"N-no..."

"And is this the only time you've ever found a mark like that?"

"Yes. If it had happened more than once, I would have said something," Jimmy said with a decisive nod.

"Good to hear it," Gambit grinned at him. "So the mark wasn't there last night? It was only there this morning?"

"Yeah."

"Are any of your room mates still at school? Or have they all gone home?"

"Artie's here."

* * *

"No, I slept right through," Artie said, feeling nervous in the presence of Gambit and Logan.

"Didn't smell anyone?" Logan asked.

"Jimmy turns my powers off," Artie pointed out. "And he was still asleep when I left the room this morning."

"Well then," Logan said. "Guess that's our next stop. Thanks kid."

"Is... is Jimmy gonna be all right?" Artie asked tentatively.

"That's what we're trying to find out," Gambit replied. "We think so."

"Good."

Logan and Gambit headed up to the boy's bedroom. While Gambit had been speaking to Jimmy, Hank had filled Logan in.

They stepped inside the bedroom and Gambit smirked at the mess. Logan breathed in deeply.

"Craig took Trey to the airport, didn't he?" Logan asked.

"Oui."

"How long ago was that?"

"You'd have to ask Angelica, mon ami," Gambit replied. "I presume you found something?"

"Yep," Logan replied as he headed back out the door and pulled out his phone. "Hope you have your lock picks, Squeaky. We have a room to break into."

"Never leave home without them," Gambit said with a smirk as Logan lifted the phone to his ear.

"Angelica? How long ago did Craig leave?"

"Umm..." Angelica replied, checking the log. "Two hours ago."

"Damn."

"Did you want me to call you when he gets back?"

"Yeah."

* * *

Emma stopped at the open door and peered at Logan and Gambit searching the room.

"Found anything?" she asked.

"Yeah, all his stuff's still here," Logan said. "Which means he's either planning on coming back, or abandoning everything."

"Then I assume you don't know what Jimmy was injected with yet?" Emma said.

"Might not have been injected with anything, chère," Gambit said grimly, opening up a drawer and running his hand along the bottom of it. "He could have been taking out. They need Jimmy's DNA for the Cure remember? And Worthington Labs got broken into last year."

"You're the telepath, Frost," Logan added. "You ever hear anything from him?"

"Nothing on the surface that gave me any reason to be concerned," Emma replied. "That goes for both of our new staff members."

"That worries me," Logan admitted. "I would like to think we can sense a threat to our kids a mile away. What I really don't get is how he thought he could sneak in there, steal Jimmy's blood and get out without realising we'd smell him."

"Either he didn't know better, or thought he should risk it," Gambit replied, pulling out a case from one of the drawers. "Maybe he had a good cover story prepared. Ahh... but I'd say this confirms your theory he's coming back, mon ami."

Gambit turned the now open case aside so that Logan and Emma could see the contents: hypodermic needles. He turned his head back to the drawer to check for anything else that might be of interest.

"Of course," Emma said slowly. "By staying on, he can continue to supply his employer for as long as necessary."

"Which raises two questions," Logan said. "Is he working for them directly, or is he a third party?"

"Yeah. So, how do we want to handle this?" Gambit asked, finding a second, smaller case and pulling it out.

"Jimmy's our first concern," Logan said firmly. "He's already been harvested for his DNA once. We're not going to let it continue. I say we confront him as soon as he gets through the door and see how he likes having his DNA harvested."

"Hmm," Gambit said as he opened the second case and pulled out a small vial. "Has anyone ever heard of Mentis Compesco?"

Emma's heard turned sharply from looking at Logan to stare at Gambit. "What did you say?"

"Mentis Compesco," Gambit repeated. "You've heard of it, chère?"

"It's a telepathic suppressant," Emma said tersely. "It effectively prevents telepaths from reading more than superficial thoughts. It could cut them off completely, but if we didn't hear anything that would be a dead give away they were using it."

"Which is why you never heard anything to concern you," Gambit said. "Smart."

"Well, of course you would approve."

"Nothing wrong with appreciating a well-thought out plan. Of course, in this case he obviously got sloppy," Gambit shrugged. "I bet I could find a way around the noses here if I wanted to. Say, what exactly were you smelling, mon ami? Anyone can switch deodorants."

"B.O," Logan replied. "He just showered."

"That works," Gambit shrugged and then turned his head to consider Emma seriously. "Is this block two way or one way?"

"I have no idea if this will prevent your hypnotic charm from working on him," Emma replied.

"What do you need to charm him for, Squeaky?" Logan asked. "He's guilty of harming one of the very students he's supposed to be helping. He's out."

"No point in kicking him out if we don't know where the samples are going," Gambit pointed out. "I'm sure you can understand why I'm not all that happy about the idea of a resurgence of the Cure, mon ami."

"For once I agree with Remy," Emma said. "Protecting Jimmy is only the beginning. Between the Cure data being stolen from Worthington Labs and this incident, I'm inclined to believe whoever is behind it had malicious intent. We need to stop them at the source."

"Agreed," Gambit nodded.

Logan looked between them and shook his head.

"I'm still for skewering the guy," Logan said. "But I suppose I can wait until after you've done with him. How you planning on getting through with this... Mentis whatever stuff?"

"Well, the guy likes poker," Gambit shrugged. "I guess he and Remy the First are going to get reacquainted. I'll see what I can charm out of him that way. In the meantime—"

Gambit was cut off by Logan's phone ringing.

"Right, thanks," was all Logan said before hanging up. "Craig's coming down the driveway now."

"I was going to suggest getting a sample of the Mentis Compesco for Hank to analyse," Gambit said. "But I guess that'll have to wait until later. We should clean up so he doesn't know we've been in here."

"I'll see if I can delay him," Emma said with a nod.

* * *

"Why Remy," Storm said that night at dinner, looking up from Kendall in her portable bassinet. "So nice of you to join us."

"No hot date tonight?" Emma smirked at him.

Gambit shrugged as he, in his 'Remy the First' disguise, sat down at the table.

"I thought I should be sociable for once," he drawled and glanced around. "Where's mon fils?"

"You'd have to ask Rogue," Logan said.

"That boy is never around when you need him," Gambit sighed.

"He could say the same thing about you," Storm teased him.

"No doubt."

"Speaking of your son," Craig said. "I could be mistaken, but I don't think I've seen him in any classes. Of course, I don't teach so..."

"He's not," Gambit replied cheerfully. "His mere home schooled him before she died, so he's actually about two or three grades ahead of what kids of his age group should be. He's a smart boy."

"Oh, I see."

"It's a shame really, because it gives him more time to run around with Rogue," Gambit said, winking at Logan.

"You're just sore because your son can do what you've never been able to do," Logan replied. "Hold down a relationship."

"I'm telling you, he's too young for that nonsense," Gambit insisted, all the while having a marvellous time. "So's Rogue for that matter."

"Gumbo, if they were to follow your example, they'd be sleeping around with other people until they're forty," Logan replied.

"Probably longer," Gambit said cheekily. "Anyway, I'm thinking about hitting the casino tonight. Anyone care to join me?"

"I will," Craig said.

"Excellent. Logan?" Gambit asked, cocking his head.

"I think I should pass," Logan replied.

"No, you can go if you want to," Storm put in quickly.

"You sure you'll be right with Kendall?"

"Sure," she assured him, leaning in to kiss his lips. "Have a good time."

"Aww, isn't that sweet? The old ball and chain's giving him permission to go out," Gambit teased him.

Logan showed Gambit the extended middle claw on his left hand. Gambit laughed. Storm just rolled her eyes.

* * *

Thorough as always, when Gambit got his image inducer, he had taken the liberty of heading downtown a few times to scout out his 'favourite' places. It had been some years since he'd last done any gambling (or other night time activities) in the area so a little reconnaissance had been necessary; he wanted to be prepared in case he ever got asked. He considered the effort to be worthwhile when Craig showed up. The only little hole he wasn't able to sew up was the fact that he was professing to be a regular, when the staff and the real regulars at these places would know him for a stranger. Hopefully his hypnotic charm could help make up for the lack.

Thus it was that Gambit, Logan and Craig arrived at one of the local casinos and got themselves onto one of the tables. Conversation was largely kept to a minimum. The game was Texas Hold 'em.

"Evening gentlemen," said a young woman, joining the table.

"Bonsoir chérie," Gambit replied.

"Oh, bonsoir monsieur," she replied with a smile. "Venez-vous ici souvent?" ["Do you come here often?"]

"Pas aussi souvent que je devrais," Gambit responded, his eyes running over her. ["Not as often as I should"]

Logan's eyes narrowed while the woman laughed lightly.

"What part of France are you from?"

"New Orleans, Louisiana," Gambit smirked.

"Ahh, my mistake."

The dealer handed out the cards, two for each player, and the first betting round commenced. Logan started becoming more and more irritated with Gambit as he took advantage of every opportunity to flirt with the young woman, until eventually Craig decided he was done for the night. The three departed, cashed in the chips and headed to the bar for drinks. Logan got further irritated when Gambit flirted with the barmaid.

"You've got them right in the palm of your hand, don't you?" Craig smirked.

"What can I say? It's a gift," Gambit shrugged.

"Mutant power?"

"No, no, I only blow things up. So tell me, mon ami," Gambit said, watching as Craig had some of his drink, "what brought you to Xaviers?"

"I needed a job and Ms Monroe was offering pretty good pay," Craig dismissed. "Seemed like a no-brainer."

"Working with mutant kids doesn't bother you?" Logan asked shortly, still ticked off with Gambit.

"No more than human kids," Craig shrugged. "They all deal with the same issues. Now she's got nice legs."

"Oui," Gambit agreed, looking at the woman Craig was admiring. "Gonna make a move?"

"I might at that."

Craig put his drink down and moved off while Gambit watched him.

"What's all this about, Gumbo?" Logan demanded.

"What's all what about?" Gambit asked.

"The flirting."

"Just keeping up with the persona."

"Oh is that what you call it?"

"Oui," Gambit said firmly. "First has been established as a womaniser. What's more this guy remembers me well enough to know my name, and I always flirt with the female poker players. I have to, Logan. It's always the little things that catch you out."

"You have to," Logan repeated darkly.

"I'm not cheating on..." Gambit paused and glanced around. "I'm not cheating on Marie. I've never cheated before and I'm not going to start now. It's just harmless flirting, Logan."

"It had better be."

"Be serious. Besides, even if I wanted to—which I don't—nothing could happen anyway," Gambit said and gestured to himself. "This is a hologram for goodness sake. How am I supposed to strip off holographic clothes?"

"Well, true."

"Heck, I could be running around naked right now and it would have no impact."

Logan eyed Gambit suspiciously. Gambit caught the look and smirked.

"I'm not," Gambit assured him.

"Uh huh," Logan replied.

"You can touch me and check for yourself."

"Pass."

"Afraid you might be right?"

"Yes."

Gambit laughed. Before too long, Craig returned—the woman in question had turned him down—and Logan and Gambit set about the task of getting him drunk. They figured that even if Gambit's hypnotic charm couldn't get anything out of him, enough alcohol might still loosen his tongue.

* * *

"Craig made the drop after he dropped off Trey at the airport," Gambit reported to the team later. "The group behind it is called Stryfe."

"They're certainly causing a lot of strife," Emma muttered.

"Craig's contacts with Stryfe are minimal. They usually contact him," Logan went on.

"Our best bet is to follow Craig to his next drop," Gambit said. "The Mentis Compesco lasts two week and he only took it a week ago. He's in the holding cell and we figured we'd keep in in there until it wore off, then Emma, if you wouldn't mind going in there and alter a few memories for us so he doesn't remember being plugged for intel? He doesn't expect to be contacted again any time soon."

Emma inclined her head.

"Is that really something we should be doing?" Angelica asked cautiously. "Altering his memories like that? I mean, I know we want to track these guys down and protect Jimmy and all, but..."

"If they had noble intentions they would have asked," Emma replied. "What's more, they would have bought the Cure research instead of stealing it."

"So, we're stooping to their level?"

"Never argue with an idiot," Rogue said, nodding sagely. "They'll drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience."

There was some nervous snickering at that.

"Maybe we'll get lucky and he won't remember tonight," Gambit shrugged. "I'm sure we can conjure up some reasonable excuse to justify him waking up in the holding cell."

The matter was further debated, but in the end came to naught. Come morning when Craig woke up and remembered all the had confessed (and yet, no idea how why he admitted all of that), he took the only way out he had: suicide pill.


	43. Slipping Up

**AN: **

Danielle, Domino, Paige and Doug are all comic-canon.

Remy didn't actually start having problems with his powers in the comics until 18+, but then in the comics, Rogue got her power at 13 (not 16 and a half at the earliest) by kissing Cody (nor David), so I feel completed justified in altering the ages to suit my own timeline, bwahahaha. Ahem.

* * *

**Chapter 42: Slipping Up**

As they got into the summer, Forge got to work on making more of the image inducers and programming them for the students who wanted the opportunity to look 'normal' in public. 90% of the students who had a physical mutation they wanted to disguise were all at the mansion over the break, so this give Forge to best opportunity to have as many ready by the beginning of the school year as possible. Gambit gave his back to Forge, saying that regardless of whether Trey came back or not from his vacation, Gambit had no further use of it. Storm advised Forge to keep it aside instead of reprogramming it just in case.

Hank had gotten a hold of Craig's supply of Mentis Compesco and had begun analysing it as the latest of many side-projects.

Four graduates from the school year finished had opted to stay on: Danielle Moonstar, Neena Thurman aka Domino, Paige Guthrie aka Husk and Douglas "Doug" Ramsey aka Cypher.

"I think it's gonna be another hot one today," Tabitha said one morning at breakfast. "I say pool party!"

"Sounds good to me," Bobby agreed.

"I've got office duty this morning," Rogue sighed. "I'll join y'all when it's done, I guess."

"Yeah, I think it's great that we got gate access in the staff room and everything, but clearly it's of no help at the pool," Jubilee nodded. "One day we shall eliminate the need for monitoring the gate and the phone."

"I just don't understand why we don't have phones everywhere," Danielle said.

"It's because some of the younger ones think the phones are for making long-distance and prank calls," Rogue said. "Of course, this activity is not _limited_ to the younger ones. Bobby."

"Who, me?" Bobby asked innocently.

"Yes, you. Don't try that innocent act on me," Rogue said dryly.

"Umm, Remy?" Tracy said, pointing towards him. "Why is your spoon pink?"

"Hmm?" Gambit said and then looked down at his hand. Hurriedly he drew the charge back in, frowning in confusion. He hadn't even felt the charge leave his body.

"Remy? You okay?" Rogue asked.

"Yeah, sure, fine," Gambit replied, sounding puzzled. "I guess I must have slipped."

"Wow really?" Bobby asked curiously. "I've never known you to slip before."

"I haven't slipped since I was a kid," Gambit said. "The first time, I mean."

"Well, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. You've got way more experience with your abilities than we do with ours," Jubilee said cheerfully. "Heck you even knew when you could blow things up again without having to deal with the whole 'emotional stress' trigger thing."

"Yeah." Gambit shook his head and shrugged. "Probably right. So, pool party, huh?"

* * *

Gambit kissed down Rogue's spine as he finished up her massage. She giggled and lifted her head to look over her shoulder and grin at him. Gambit grinned back, then got up off the bed to put on the movie while Rogue put her shirt back on.

"Hey, uhh, Remy?" Rogue said softly.

"Oui?"

"Wanna skip the movie tonight?"

Gambit turned to look at her and immediately his eyes travelled south of her face to her naked breasts.

"Well, now," he said, putting the DVD back down and making his way back to the bed. "This is a nice surprise. What changed your mind?"

Rogue shivered a little as Gambit's hands slid onto her waist and ran her own hands up his bare arms to his neck. She leaned in and kissed him softly. Gambit deepened the kiss as he felt her nipples brush against his chest and inched his fingers northwards. He paused briefly when he felt her tremble the moment his hands cupped her breasts, but Rogue gave him no time to think about it as she kissed him feverishly. She gasped softly when his thumbs started tracing circles about her nipples and then he felt her shaking fingers make their way down south to the fly of his jeans. He stopped and caught her hands.

"Roguey?" he questioned, his voice low. "I thought you wanted to wait."

"Well... I... I did," Rogue replied nervously. "But life is short."

"Uh huh," he said skeptically. "This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with the imminent return of your powers would it?"

"Umm, well, m-maybe."

Gambit closed his eyes and sighed. Then he reached for her shirt and started putting Rogue back into it.

"You're gonna get your powers under control, chère," he said firmly.

"But... but what if I don't and this is my only chance to—"

"You're going to get your powers under control," Gambit repeated. "And when that day comes—that's 'when' not 'if'—you will regret this moment, and you'll hate me for taking advantage of you."

"You're not taking advantage—"

"You're acting out of fear, Rogue. You'd hate me, and I'd hate me too. We're not doing this."

"I'm not!" Rogue insisted, her fingers digging into his elbows. "I really do want this."

Gambit lifted one of her hands in the air. They both watched as her hand shook violently and Rogue snatched it back.

"Okay, so I'm a little nervous," she grumbled. "Doesn't mean anything."

"You told me once you trusted me to know how far you were willing to go," he said softly. "So trust me now. You're not ready for this."

Rogue closed her eyes as Gambit touched her face and ran his thumb over her cheek.

"Can't you just... use your charm to make me unnervous or something?" she asked.

"Enough time, right conditions, sure, I can charm the fear out of someone," Gambit admitted, sitting beside her and putting his arm around her shoulders. "Thing is Roguey, that's only a temporary fix. The effect will wear off, and you'll be right back where you started. I'm sorry, ma chère, but you're going to have to face this yourself."

"No, I meant so that I wouldn't be nervous about having..." Rogue swallowed, unable to actually say the word, "with you."

"I believe I tried that once before," Gambit said shortly, highly incensed at the very idea. "Didn't work then, and I doubt it will work now. And quite frankly, I don't want it to. If we ever have sex, Rogue, it's going to be because we love each other and because we _both_ want to. Not because you're panicking that you're going to miss out."

He winced internally as Rogue turned her head to glare at him. He had intended on trying to charm her out of any potential display of temper or embarrassment, but all that was lost the moment she asked him to do something he'd spent years trying not to do.

"I'm not panicking!" Rogue exclaimed as she pulled away from him.

"Oui, you are," Gambit insisted. "We've been telling you for years you're going to get your powers under control. That's what all the therapy, meditation, massages and dancing are about. That's what your weekly sessions with Emma and Betsy are all about."

"Emma doesn't even know the real reason why I can't control my powers," Rogue spat, getting off the bed and pointed her finger at him. "Scott never really got real control either. He had brain damage and genuinely couldn't control his and that's why he had to wear a visor or sunglasses all the time—"

"I think if you had brain damage they would have figured it out already—"

"I don't want to go the rest of my life _wondering!_"

"And I don't want us to do something I know we'll both regret and hate ourselves for."

"I won't regret it."

"And you're only fooling yourself if you actually believe that."

"I'm not fooling myself! I know what I want! Okay you know what? Fine, just freaking fine. You get what you want," Rogue practically snarled, stamping her way to the door. "I'm too angry with you to even think about going there with you any more."

Gambit winced as the door slammed shut behind her. There was dead silence for about two seconds, then he changed into his work out clothes and headed down to the danger room. No one would be in there at this hour, and he desperately needed to blow off some steam.

* * *

Gambit walked into the crowded dining hall the next morning, got his breakfast together and sat down across from Logan at the table he was sitting at with Storm, Emma, Evelyn and Hank.

"You're up late, Squeaky," Logan observed.

Gambit shrugged. "I was in the danger room longer than usual."

"If you've just been in the danger room," Hank said, "why is your plate glowing magenta?"

"What? Oh damn, not again," Gambit complained, reabsorbing the charge. "That's the second time in as many weeks. I was in the DR last night, not this morning. I've only just gotten up."

"Slipping are you?" Logan teased him. "Hey, I thought you and Rogue were having a massage and movie night last night?"

"We made it just a massage night. Rogue left early so I decided to hit the DR."

"The second time in as many weeks?" Emma queried.

"I'm sure it's nothing. Probably just some stupid teenage body hormone thing," Gambit dismissed.

"Perhaps," said Hank, "you should consider visiting the med lab at some point? It has been awhile since your last check up."

"Oui, there's a reason for that."

"Yeah, Squeaky scared of hospitals." Logan smirked at him.

"Shove it up your—"

"Did you and Rogue have a fight?" Storm cut in curiously.

Gambit fell silent and concentrated on his breakfast. Evelyn excused herself.

"Okay Squeaky," Logan said. "What did you do?"

"Actually, mon ami," Gambit replied tersely, "it's what I didn't do that's she's mad about."

"Then why aren't you over there apologising and doing whatever it is you didn't do?" Logan asked, pointing his thumb at the table behind him.

"For one thing, you probably wouldn't approve of the scene that would cause," Gambit replied, smirking in spite of himself. "For another thing, she's the one in the wrong."

"I thought you were the ladies man, Remy," Emma commented. "Shouldn't you know by now that the woman is never wrong?"

"It's Thursday today right?" Gambit snapped. "Come see me after you've been in her head today and tell me if you still think that."

Gambit refused to make any more comments on the matter after that and slowly but surely, the dining hall began to empty. Before long it was only Logan and Gambit at their table, and Logan left when he heard Kendall crying over the baby monitor.

With Logan no longer obstructing his view, Gambit could see Rogue still seated at the usual table with Bobby.

Just Bobby.

Ex-boyfriend Bobby.

Ex-boyfriend who-still-loved-her Bobby.

Gambit swore under his breath. He shovelled the last mouthful into his mouth, then made his way over and swallowed just before he slid down on the seat next to Rogue. Rogue glanced over at him as he put his arm over her shoulders.

"Bonjour," Gambit said, sounding more cheerful than he felt.

"Morning, Remy," Bobby replied.

"So, what are you plans for today?" Gambit asked.

"Nothing particular exciting," Bobby answered with a shrug. "I'm thinking video-gaming mostly."

"Ahh, sounds like fun anyway."

"I thought so. What about you two?"

"Actually we hadn't made plans yet," Gambit replied and looked at Rogue. "So, Roguey, what would you like to do today?"

"Thought I might catch up on my reading and I have my check up with Emma today too," Rogue replied evenly.

"Have fun with that," Bobby grinned at her. "Anyway, I shall be off. Catch yas later."

"See you," Gambit and Rogue replied.

Bobby departed and for a moment there was silence between the two. Then the last of the other diners departed and it was just Rogue and Gambit left.

"I'm still mad at you," Rogue said.

"I can handle you being mad at me now if it means you won't hate me later," Gambit replied seriously.

"Why are you so damned convinced I'm going to hate you? I could never hate you."

"Oui, you say that now when you're not thinking straight—"

"I _am_ thinking straight."

"—but what happens when you've had time to calm down and reflect on the matter?"

"I am calm!" Rogue objected and banged the table with her first.

"Uh huh," Gambit drawled. "Whatever you say."

Rogue pressed her lips together, looked away and fell silent. Gambit leaned into her and put his lips to her ear.

"You wouldn't have been thinking about asking Bobby, would you?" he asked quietly.

For a moment, Rogue didn't say a thing and then she snapped at him: "Would you blame me if I did?"

"Oui, chère, I would," Gambit replied coldly. "I don't like being cheated on."

Rogue said nothing.

"Let me make this very clear to you, ma chère. I get that you're scared, but if you cheat on me, we're over. If we break up and you come to your senses, I won't take you back. We'll be done, finished, finito," he lied and then added truthfully: "I've done the on/off relationship and I don't much care for it. I sure as hell don't want to have that kind of relationship with you."

"I can't believe you would even think I would do such a thing," Rogue replied hotly.

"Well, we all do crazy things when we're irrational—"

"Would you stop saying I'm irrational!"

"—For one thing, I never would have expected you to ask me to you my charm on you like that," Gambit replied, his voice full of bitter disgust. "You _know_ what I think about that, and yet you still asked."

Again silence fell.

"I'm going to see if the DR's occupied," Gambit said finally. "Enjoy your book."

* * *

Betsy had given into the pestering of her agent and had taken a modelling job over the summer. Warren had gone with her for the 'scenery'. Therefore, when Rogue arrived at Emma's office for her weekly check up, it was Emma alone who went in. Rogue was so wound up by her argument with Gambit that try as she might, she couldn't calm her thoughts for Emma's passage and thus it was that the storm of thoughts Emma dove past was far more treacherous than usual. By the time Emma got to the part of Rogue's mind where her mutation was developing she had to 'stop for breath' as it were.

Emma had noticed a growing anxiety in Rogue regarding the return of her powers. She had done what she could in terms on enforcing positive thinking about it and was frustrated to learn that things weren't working out. All other aspects of Rogue's therapy had been working out fine, especially becoming comfortable with touching. However, if Rogue couldn't lose this fear that she wouldn't get her powers under control—or at least not dumb it down to a sensible level—then she may well become the product of a self-fulfilling prophecy. To make matters worse, the odds were in the beginning stages Rogue _wouldn't_ be able to control it. Very few mutants got control of their powers as soon as they manifested and most of those who did had passive powers that required another kind of learning.

Emma conducted her inspection—taking longer than usual because she was distracted by thoughts of what to do—and finally pulled out. She caught her breath for real when she emerged.

"Rogue, stay a minute would you?" Emma said as she pulled out a sheet of paper to draw up the mindscape.

"Okay," Rogue replied.

There was silence while Emma drew, and when she was satisfied, she set the paper aside and looked up at Rogue.

"This is about what happened with Remy, isn't it?" Rogue asked.

"According to my calculations, unless you have a growth spurt you probably won't see the return of your powers until after Christmas," Emma said. "You are due for a growth spurt, so it's possible."

"Great," Rogue muttered.

"Which means we only have a short about of time to get rid of this silly anxiety of yours," Emma went on firmly. "Say 'I'm going to get my powers under control'."

Rogue sighed. "I'm going to get my powers under control."

"I said 'say it' not 'mumble it'."

"I'm going to get my powers under control," Rogue said.

"Good. Now, I want you to return to your room, look yourself in the mirror and say that to yourself ten times. This you will do every day, and every time you start to have doubts. I do not want to hear another negative word about it, spoken or telepathic, is that clear?"

"Yes Emma."

"You may go."

Emma watched as Rogue departed, closed her eyes and sighed. She needed to talk to Gambit.

* * *

It was surprisingly easy to find Gambit, as he was in the danger room at the time. Emma waited until he finished his solo session and moved to greet him.

"You were right," Emma said evenly. "Rogue was in the wrong."

Gambit said nothing, just continued walking down the hall.

"Thank you," Emma added.

"What for?" Gambit replied. "For doing the right thing?"

"Your concerns about the impact this would have on your relationship aside, giving into Rogue would have been affirmation that she wasn't going to get her powers under control, and that's the last thing we need. I'm also grateful that you've always maintained a positive attitude about Rogue gaining control."

"It's easy. She's going to," Gambit said determinedly. "That's all there is to it."

"I've been trying to weed this little fear of hers out," Emma went on. "Evidently, it's not working. However, I think where I failed you might be able to succeed. You told her last night that—given enough time and the right conditions—you could charm the fear out of her?"

"Fear's a tricky thing to charm out of a person," Gambit replied with a shrug. "Part of the problem is that people have a tendency to hold onto it, so the right conditions are necessary. If you're trying to calm someone down while someone else is yelling at them or they have a gun at their head it's not going to work. Besides, I also told Rogue it was only a temporary fix. It'll wear off sooner or later, Emma."

"True," Emma conceded. "But a baby doesn't instantly learn how to walk. They must be guided and encouraged to take their first steps before their legs strengthen enough to walk on their own. Rogue has always been afraid of her powers. There have been different aspects of that fear: fear of not being able to touch or be touched, fear of hurting or even killing the people she loves, fear of being taken over by the voices in her head. Fear of missing out on having a life."

"You think that if I charm the fear out of her, even for a little while, it might give her what she needs to hold onto and pull herself out the rest of the way," Gambit said.

"That's it exactly," Emma confirmed. "Of course, you will have to be discreet about it. I certainly don't mind Rogue getting your support, but I don't want to see her turning you into some kind of security blanket."

Gambit snickered.

"I'll let you know if it looks like that's happening," Emma said as they approached the elevator.

"Is it ethical for us to have this discussion?" Gambit asked teasingly while the elevator door opened. "I thought you didn't discuss the things you saw in people's heads."

"Medical practitioners who attend the same patient need to confer in order to ensure the patient gets the right treatment," Emma responded seriously and followed Gambit into the elevator. "I don't see how this is any different."

"Hmm," Gambit grunted as the elevator door closed. "Emma, since we're on the subject anyway, I... You know how I told you that my hypnotic charm is passive? I know you don't believe me but—"

"Yes, what about it?" Emma cut in.

"Look, I'd really like to know if I can shut the thing off," Gambit said with his eyes firmly trained on the wall. "Would, ahh... would you mind going in and taking a look?"

Emma turned her head to look at Gambit, and after a moment she spoke: "I can look now, if you want. The kinetic static around your mind has been thinned out by your exercise in the danger room, so I should be able to get in."

There was only a moment's hesitation before Gambit pressed the stop button on the elevator. "Do it."

Emma sent out her mind towards Gambit's. She grazed the psionic field of his hypnotic charm and felt an outward pressure.

"Remy," Emma said patiently. "I know you're mind sensitive and you've learned how to expel unwanted telepathic intrusion, but you're going to have to restrain yourself if you want me to get inside your head without hurting you."

"Right, Désolé," Gambit said apologetically. "Force of habit."

The outward pressure released and Emma moved through the storm of thoughts in his mind. There was a great deal of memories regarding herself and Rogue—not really all that surprising—and a certain about of bitterness regarding his secondary mutation, but the general overtone was Gambit chanting to himself: "I want her in my head. I want her in my head." Emma smiled to herself.

After what seemed like an eternity to Gambit, he finally felt Emma emerge from his mind. For a moment neither said anything.

"So?" Gambit asked.

"Your hypnotic charm is passive."

"Damn. You sure?"

"It's positioned and...configured, if you will, where and how passive powers are found," Emma replied, pressing the button for the elevator to start again. "However, just because it can't be turned on and off—short of the assistance of someone like Jimmy—does not mean it can't be controlled."

Gambit snorted derisively.

"Let's say you have super-strength," Emma went on as if Gambit hadn't made a noise. "Super-strength is passive, but if you spend all day watching TV and picking up nothing heavier than the remote, then you're not _using_ it. If you decide you're going to bench-press a truck, then you need to use your super-strength to accomplish the task."

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.

"However, there's a line between where your natural strength ends, and your super-strength kicks in to make up the lack," Emma went on as she walked with Gambit down the hall to the teacher's wing. "Likewise, there's a grey area when your, ahem, natural charm and charisma ends and your hypnotic charm kicks in. It is at that point that the low-level pisonic field around your mind starts emitting pulses. That same field is what makes you mind sensitive, by the way."

"I thought that was the kinetic energy," Gambit questioned with a frown.

"No, the kinetic energy is what causes the static that makes it difficult to read you," Emma corrected. "The psionic field was on the weak side when you regressed, as were the pulses. I believe the ability has matured now, or close enough it makes little difference."

"So, what? You think I can control when I emit those pulses?" Gambit asked.

"Of course you can Remy. You've been doing it for years," Emma replied. "Like someone with super-strength learns not to squeeze too tight and to pull their punches, you have been learning what you can and cannot accomplish with your hypnotic charm. You've learned that words and setting are important, amongst other things, and you have been using that knowledge to choose when your ability is activated."

"I never thought of it that way," Gambit admitted as they stopped outside his bedroom door.

"It's probably a little more difficult than if you actually had super-strength. Someone with that ability gets evidence when they squeeze too tight but you're unable to see the pulses when you emit them. Keep working at it, Remy."

Gambit nodded slowly and put his hand on the handle.

"Merci, Emma," he said.

Emma inclined her head and left.


	44. Stupid Chapter Made Me Cry

**Chapter 43: Stupid Chapter Made Me Cry (and I wrote the silly thing)  
**

Rogue was embarrassed.

Rogue was also angry. She was angry that she was embarrassed, angry that she was angry about being embarrassed, angry at herself, angry at Gambit for being right and really, really angry that he would suggest that she would even consider cheating on him. The thought never even occurred to her.

Well, maybe the thought did occur to her, but only for a teeny tiny insignificant little second. Less than a second even, more like a nanosecond or a picosecond. Yes, for one tiny little picosecond she may have thought about sleeping with Bobby, and she had dismissed that thought in half a picosecond. She didn't want Bobby. She hadn't even thought of Bobby like that in...well, actually she couldn't even remember the last time she'd thought of Bobby like that. Even if she and Gambit hadn't been dating she still wouldn't have asked Bobby to sleep with her.

Rogue was also angry about being relieved that Gambit had turned her down.

Yep, she'd really screwed this one up.

Rogue sighed and put her bookmark back in her book. She'd just been reading the same paragraph over and over again without a single word registering. She just couldn't concentrate or relax or anything, and all of a sudden the room felt stifling. The whole mansion felt constricting. She needed to get out.

There was only one thing for it, and it was with that thought that Rogue strode to the staff room, hoping she wouldn't bump into Gambit or Emma on the way. She didn't and once inside the room, her eyes sought out Jubilee playing pool with Tracy.

"Jubes," Rogue said as she approached. "Do you want to go shopping?"

Jubilee stopped and Tracy was so startled that she missed the cue ball.

"That doesn't count!" Tracy said quickly, but Jubilee didn't even notice.

"You want to go shopping with me?" Jubilee asked cautiously.

"Yep. You busy?" Rogue asked.

"You're serious?"

"Yep."

"You're not toying with me?"

"Nope."

"Did you and Remy have a fight or something?"

"I'll let you give me a makeover if you don't ask questions."

Rogue could practically see Jubilee weighing the scales: makeover vs gossip.

"Done!" Jubilee said gleefully and grabbed Rogue's wrist to drag her out. "Let's go!"

"I'm coming too," Tracy said as she trotted after them.

"Okay, but let's go before Tabby notices and decides to come too," Jubilee, nodding significantly to where Bobby and Tabitha were playing video games.

"Right," Tracy agreed.

* * *

Going to the mall with Jubilee and Tracy was a lot different than going with Gambit. For one thing when she shopped with Gambit they looked at cool stuff like games, movies and books (okay, she looked at books, he just stood around bored). The only clothes shopping they ever did involved funny shirts and leather goods. Not so with Jubilee and Tracy. All the cool stuff was bypassed for clothing store after clothing store, with detours via the pet shops to adore the cute little puppies and kittens.

It happened that Jubilee and Tracy were trying some clothes on and while Rogue waited she started looking at the small accessory section in the store. Her eyes fell on a display of half a dozen pairs of gloves and she reached out to touch a pair of black opera gloves.

It had seemed too easy in the beginning to have a positive attitude about getting control of her powers. Rogue had been actually rather excited and hopeful about the prospect, and determined to see it happen. But as the time grew closer that small seed of doubt had managed to take root and grow and she was finding it harder and harder to stay positive about it. Was she really where she needed to be? Did she have enough time? Was she actually prepared for the moment?

Would Gambit leave her if she couldn't get control? He wanted a family too. Maybe if it took too long, or maybe if she absorbed him—which was likely, given that he was the one she touched the most—he'd break up with her and find someone else.

Rogue felt tears spring to her eyes and fought them. She would not cry in the middle of a store. The idea was crazy, and besides, hadn't she embarrassed herself enough already? She was not going to cry.

Rogue clenched her jaw and swallowed hard. Frustrated, she ignored the solitary tear that ran down her cheek, grabbed the nearest garment and made a beeline for the change room. She pulled the curtain behind her forcefully, practically slammed the hanger on the hook provided and swallowed again, but try as she might, she couldn't stop the downpour.

She sat down miserably on the bench, trying so hard to stop crying, or at the very least not being heard to cry. As soon as she thought she contained herself, she reached into her bag for a tissue, dried her eyes, blew her nose as discreetly as she could... and then promptly started crying again.

The second time Rogue finally managed to contain herself, she distracted herself from having outburst #3 by looking at the garment she'd brought in with her. It was a silver, strapless dress and Rogue realised just by looking at it that it was too small for her. A short sound, half laugh, half sob emerged from her lips.

"Rogue?" Jubilee called. "You in here?"

"Oh uhh, yeah," Rogue replied hurriedly.

Jubilee and Tracy glanced at each other where they stood outside the one occupied change room.

"You okay?" Jubilee asked cautiously.

"Who? Me? Yeah I'm just peachy," Rogue said and pushed the dress through the gap between the wall and the curtain. "Hey can you do me a favour? I accidentally picked up one that was two sizes too small."

"Sure thing," Jubilee replied as she took the dress.

"Thanks," Rogue said with forced cheerfulness, glad she found a way to delay leaving the change room.

"Is it just me," Tracy said as they walked back in amongst the clothes racks, "or did Rogue sound like she had been crying?"

"Nope, Rogue's been crying," Jubilee nodded. "Now, where did she get this one from?"

"I wonder what she and Remy fought about?" Tracy mused and then pointed. "Oh, that looks like them."

"Good question," Jubilee said as they made their way over. "I know she said I could give her a makeover if I didn't ask questions but..."

"Yeah," Tracy nodded and looked around while Jubilee put the dress back on the rack. "Oh, Jubes?"

"Yeah?" Jubilee asked as she went through the dresses looking for another in Rogue's size.

"I think I know why Rogue's upset," Tracy replied and pointed to the glove display.

Jubilee looked up, saw the gloves, frowned and then looked at Tracy.

"She saw the gloves, realised she was going to cry and then pulled the first dress off the rack," Tracy went on, figuring it out as she went.

"She's freaking out about her powers," Jubilee said.

"But why?" Tracy asked with a frown. "She's got Remy and Emma and Betsy and everyone else and their cousin all standing by her to help her get them under control when she gets them back."

"Well, yeah, but no one really knows why she could never get control," Jubilee pointed out. "The Professor used to work with her all the time, and lots of us volunteered to help her as 'guinea pigs' so she could practice. I bet she's freaking out that history is just gonna repeat."

"Hmph, well, we're just gonna have to figure out how to unfreak her out," Tracy decided.

"This shopping trip was Rogue's idea," Jubilee said slyly.

"It was, wasn't it?" Tracy replied gleefully. "And we would be remiss if we didn't encourage her to make the most of it."

"Yes, yes we would. In fact as nice as this dress is, I say it's not enough. Let's find the skimpiest, most skin-baring clothes we can find!" Jubilee said excitedly and started looking around for the next rack to raid.

"Maybe we should have brought Tabby along after all," Tracy giggled.

"No, no," Jubilee dismissed as she went through the dresses, "we want tasteful not trampy."

"True. Hey," Tracy considered, "this isn't gonna make her cry more, is it?"

"Oh I don't know," Jubilee replied blithely. "Maybe, but she's just going to have to suck it up. The only time we're letting her be all covered up again is in winter."

Tracy giggled. The two hurried around the store, picking out all sorts of different things and took so long that Rogue started to wonder where they'd gone. She wasn't really complaining though, because it gave her more time to compose herself.

Nevertheless, Rogue was not expecting the pile of garments that came her way when Jubilee and Tracy finally returned. She wasn't really all that surprised when they demanded that she try everything on and show them how it looked like. It took them an hour before they finally left the store. Rogue had been talked into buying four different dresses that she was quite sure she didn't need, but Jubilee insisted that was the whole point of going shopping.

After that, Rogue bought herself a strapless bra as she needed one for a couple of the new dresses and didn't have one already.

The next stop was for shoes. Rogue attempted to look at boots and runners, but her friends insisted that she had quite enough of them and she needed nicer, prettier shoes. Rogue managed to escape after only getting one pair of shoes, unlike Jubilee and Tracy who bought five pairs between them. They each thought the other was insane.

Hours after they had left, the three finally made it back to the mansion. They returned to their rooms, Rogue had a shower as ordered (it was a fairly hot day) and then Jubilee and Tracy met in Rogue's room to give her the makeover. Jubilee and Tracy went to a great deal of trouble of going through Rogue's clothes—which she found both amusing and disquieting—and finally picked out what she was going to wear, made her change and began on the make up.

"Now, the trick is to make it look like you're not wearing any," Jubilee said happily as she worked away on Rogue's eyes.

"Then why wear any at all?" Rogue asked. "You could save yourself heaps of time and effort by not wearing any and everyone will be all so impressed because you look so natural."

"Silence! We will make you over and you will like it!" Jubilee declared.

Tracy giggled and then spotted Rogue's jewellery box.

"Oooh," Tracy said. "I'm gonna go through your jewellery, Rogue."

"Hey there's some good stuff in there," Jubilee said. "I've seen some of the stuff Remy's given you, Rogue."

Rogue didn't answer. She didn't want to think about Gambit right now.

"There," Jubilee said, well pleased. "Now you have eyelashes."

"I always had eyelashes," Rogue pointed out.

"Now you have _better_ ones."

Jubilee moved onto her cheeks while Tracy went through the jewellery box making exclamations like: "Hey Jubes, you have to see this", "Ooooh this is pretty" and "Omigod, Rogue you are so wearing this tonight."

"Umm, guys," Rogue said. "I rather think most of the stuff in there is for special occasions, you know? Not wearing around the house."

"This is a special occasion," Jubilee replied firmly. "You asked me to take you shopping and then let me give you a makeover. Okay, I'm thinking this is right up there with hell freezing over. Now, no more talking; I need to do your lips."

"She does have a point though," Tracy mused. "I think we should go out somewhere."

"Oh, and take some boys with us. Remy obviously—Rogue, don't move—and Roberto and..." Jubilee considered seriously. "Forge?"

"We won't get Forge to dress up. Oh, let's take Bobby," Tracy said.

"All right then. Boys don't need as much time to get ready, so we'll shock them with our sheer gorgeousness and while they're too stunned to object make them go out with us," Jubilee decided.

Tracy giggled.

* * *

Sometime later, Rogue, Jubilee and Tracy appeared in the staff room all glammed up. Tracy, looking amazing in her little red number, smooth-talked Roberto into going out with her that night. Roberto was quite amenable to the suggestion. Jubilee, looking sexy in gold, practically pounced on Bobby, told him he was taking her out and then rushed him out of the room before he had a chance to say yay or nay. Gambit wasn't in there and Rogue, unsure of whether she should be pleased or upset, moved off to the side tentatively, watching while her friends badgered the boys.

Bobby passed by Gambit on his way to his bedroom, and by 'passed' we actually mean 'would have collided with him if not for Gambit's awesome reflexes'.

"Bit of a hurry mon ami?" Gambit asked.

"Jubes... Tracy... _Rogue_... Staff room... Dinner tonight!" Bobby stammered as he hurried past.

Gambit watched Bobby, somewhat perplexed, as he ran past. With his curiosity now sparked, Gambit made his way to the staff room. Rogue didn't see him at first, but he sure noticed her. She was sitting on a table top with her long, bare legs cross and dangling over the edge. A pair of silver shoes with green trim were on her feet, there was a decorative green belt with her silver strapless dress that came down to mid-thigh. She wore the emerald pendant and a pair of emerald earrings that he had given her. She looked amazing.

"Roguey?" he said softly.

Rogue turned her head to look at him and smiled shyly. She wasn't really sure what to say to him, although given Jubilee's and Tracy's plans she knew she had to say something. There was silence between them as Gambit slowly walked over. Rogue tucked a stray lock of white hair behind her ear.

"So, uhh," she said tentatively. "You busy tonight?"

"Oui," Gambit replied as he took hold of her hand. "I was planning on spending it with you."

Rogue giggled then inclined her head.

"Jubes, Tracy, Roberto, Bobby and I were planning on going out for dinner tonight," she told him. "We're going fancy so you might wanna change if you want to come with us."

"I'd follow you anywhere, chère."

* * *

The six made their way to an Italian restaurant for dinner, where Gambit conned them into ordering a particular wine, much to Rogue's amusement. He then proceeded to give interested parties instruction on tasting the wine and how it was supposed to be taken with the food to the point where Jubilee leaned past Bobby and whispered loudly: "Rogue, your boyfriend is weird."

"You're the weird one," Gambit informed her. "You're the one who doesn't know how to appreciate a fine wine or a good meal. Savages."

"Hey, I know how to appreciate my food just fine," Jubilee objected.

"Says the one who's stuffing her gob like there's no tomorrow," Gambit dismissed. "Now I ask you, what is the point of coming to a fancy, expensive restaurant if you're just going to eat fast and leave? May as well have hit McDonalds."

"Is he always like this?" Jubilee asked Rogue.

"Remy takes his fine dining very seriously," Rogue replied with an amused nod.

"Damn straight I do," Gambit said.

"Oh be quiet, Jubes," Tracy said. "I thought it was interesting."

"Same," Roberto agreed.

"Ha!" Gambit gloated. "Now, as I was saying..."

It wasn't until quite late that they returned to the mansion. Gambit walked with Rogue to her room, her hand tucked into his. It had been surprisingly easy to pretend like nothing had happened but both knew that it couldn't be swept under the rug, so when they got to her door, Rogue swallowed her pride and invited him in.

"I umm," Rogue began uncertainly as Gambit closed the door behind him. "Umm, about last night, I... I..."

Gambit waited, having decided that he wanted to hear her say it. Rogue took a deep breath and used the excuse of putting her jewellery away to avoid his eyes.

"You were right," she said finally. "I was scared and I wasn't really ready even though I wanted to be and I shouldn't have...have asked _that_ of you."

"No, you shouldn't have," Gambit agreed.

"I do know that you hate it, and I even _like_ that you hate it because it speaks highly of the kind of person you are and... Remy, I never, _never_ would have slept with Bobby," Rogue went on and Gambit winced inwardly at the hurt in her tone. "It wasn't about having sex, per say. It was about having sex with the man I love. And I do love you Remy, more than anything."

Rogue closed her eyes as Gambit approached.

"I love you too," he said softly.

"And..." Rogue went on, wanting to get all of this out. "And I know that everyone keeps saying that I'm gonna get control, and it's not that I don't appreciate the support and the help and everything, but it's very easy to _say_ I'm going to get control. It's a whole other thing to actually get control. Believe me, I know, I've tried. And either way, I'm the one who has to live with it."

Gambit wrapped his arms around Rogue's waist and held her close.

"You told me once that I had given you something no one else did regarding your powers," Gambit said quietly into her ear. "You said I gave you hope. Don't give up, ma chère. Maybe you won't have control straight away—few people ever do—but nothing worth having is ever easy."

"My powers must be worth a fortune then," Rogue muttered.

Gambit chuckled.

"Maybe they are, Roguey," he said with a smirk. "Whatever happens, you're going to get control, and I'm going to be there with you every step of the way. But you need to trust me, chère, have faith in yourself and never give up. In fact, you should be excited that the time is coming. This is going to be your chance to put all your years of hard work into practice. I bet it'll be even easier than you think."

"I hope so, Remy," Rogue replied softly. "I hope so."


	45. You Can Be Immature Forever

**Chapter 44: You Can Be Immature Forever**

"Hello there, beautiful," Rogue said as she looked at Kendall in her father's arms. "Comfy are we? Oh look at that cute little smile."

Logan chuckled. "Did you want to hold her?"

"Hmm, I'd love to say yes, but I think I'd better wait until I have long sleeves and gloves on," Rogue replied wistfully. "Granted, the person I'm most likely to absorb when my powers come back is Remy, but I wouldn't want everyone to be wrong and end up absorbing Kendall instead. That would be a horrible experience for someone so little, wouldn't it, cherub?"

Logan nodded, then frowned slightly.

"Just how long have you and Squeaky been dating now anyway?" he asked. "Must be getting close to a year..."

"Yep," Rogue nodded. "One year tomorrow."

"Ahh. Congratulations then."

"Thanks."

Logan looked between the girl he thought of as a daughter, and the baby who was his flesh and blood daughter. One day Kendall would grow up. Would she have trouble with her powers too? Would she start dating guys he didn't approve of? Would she still smile at him like she was now?

Logan looked back up at Rogue who was busy entertaining Kendall with funny faces and silly voices. He didn't really like Rogue dating Gambit, but that said, the Gambit he knew today was a lot different from the man he knew before. The man before was a man who was able to get pretty much anything he wanted, sometimes just by pointing a finger if he felt like being that crass. He was an arrogant, smart-mouthed, womanising, over-confident, annoying thief and confidence trickster who could manipulate anyone and anything to suit himself.

When Gambit regressed that changed. Granted he was still arrogant, smart-mouthed, over-confident and annoying, but if he still stole he was smart enough to keep them from finding out. Logan wasn't certain about the con-artistry, which was probably proof that he was still up to tricks. What worried Logan the most, however, was that his dating pool had suddenly been reduced to Rogue and he had no idea how his promiscuous friend was going to deal with that.

As far as Logan saw it, Rogue was innocent in all the areas that Gambit was most experienced. Logan had seen Gambit get swamped and followed around by gaggles of adoring women and the very idea of Rogue turning into one of those love-struck hens turned his stomach.

Logan wasn't stupid. He knew that everyone thought he was being way over-protective and silly. Even Storm thought he was blowing things out of proportion. But they weren't the ones who'd seen Gambit on the prowl. They weren't the ones who'd been approached by Gambit's previous night's stands wondering if he knew where he was because he'd left them wanting more. He didn't want to see that same forlorn, love-blinded, lust-filled look in Rogue's eyes.

He hadn't.

Sure there were the adoring looks, but Rogue was still that smart-mouthed, sassy kid he'd known. She didn't drool or fawn or run to Gambit's beck and call. Actually, if anything Rogue was more than she had been. She was more confident and happier than he'd known her. Logan by no means credited Gambit with the change in her—he was hardy the only person in her life—but he couldn't deny that he'd been a positive influence on her.

It seemed that Rogue and the regression had been a positive influence on Gambit as well. Despite Logan's earlier concerns and the incident with Monet, Gambit had taken his role as teacher quite seriously. The students looked up to him and although he did have a bit of a fan club amongst the girls, Gambit had never done anything to intentionally encourage their interest. If anything he actually seemed embarrassed by it, although you'd never get him to admit it.

Logan had just been getting used to the idea of Rogue and Gambit being friends when they told him they were dating. Just when he thought that nothing of that ilk was going to happen too. Still, Gambit's promise to abide by ground rules—the fact he'd even _suggested_ ground rules—had surprised him, and Logan was well pleased to know that they'd stuck with them. Of course, Logan had no doubt that if they'd chosen to, Gambit was crafty enough to get away with breaking them without his knowing, and who knew what they did in New Orleans, but Logan had decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. No time in the past year had Gambit given Logan a single reason to be concerned.

"Rogue?" Logan said.

"Yeah?" Rogue said, still looking at Kendall.

"Tomorrow being your anniversary and all, I'm dropping the ground rules."

Rogue stopped in the middle of a funny face and looked at up Logan. She blinked in surprise.

"Dropping the ground rules?" she repeated.

"Yeah. I think your taste in men could do with some improving," Logan replied with a wry smile. "But Squeaky cares about you. I don't really think I have anything to worry about any more."

"Logan, I..." Rogue started and then smiled broadly. "Thank you. You don't know how much it means to me to hear you say that."

Logan gave a half shrug. "Starting tomorrow. They still apply today."

"Okay," Rogue conceded with a giggle. "And what's wrong with my taste in men? I used to have a crush on _you_."

"That just confirms it, darlin'," Logan grinned back at her.

"Hmm, should I tell Storm that you don't think much of her taste in men either?" Rogue teased him.

"She already knows."

* * *

The following evening, Rogue arrived at Gambit's room wearing one of her new dresses and a bag in hand. Dinner was waiting on the balcony along with a bottle of champagne.

"Well now," Gambit practically purred. "Don't you look gorgeous?"

"I know, I'm fabulous," Rogue replied with a grin.

He kissed her lips sweetly and they sat down at the table outside.

"I can't believe it's been a year already," she said as she looked down at her plate. "This looks and smells wonderful, by the way."

"Merci ma chère," Gambit replied. "So what did you want to watch tonight?"

"Oh I don't know. It's our anniversary so I'm thinking there's already enough mush," Rogue considered. "Let's watch something with lots of explosions and meaningless violence."

Gambit chuckled.

"Oh, by the way," Rogue went on. "Some of us have decided to chip in and give Logan and Storm a romantic dinner and a night off from looking after Kendall for their wedding anniversary. Want in? We're planning on hiring a limo and everything."

"Sounds nice," Gambit grinned. "There's already something I was planning on giving them, but I can chip in for that as well."

"Oh yeah?" Rogue asked curiously. "What were you planning on getting them?"

Gambit told her and then laughed at the horrified reaction he got from her in return.

They ate, drank, chatted a little and eventually moved back into the bedroom to watch a movie. They curled up on the bed together and when it finished at about midnight, Gambit hugged Rogue from behind and kissed her neck.

"I suppose you have to go now," he said. "But before you do, mind telling me what's in the bag?"

"Hmm? Oh that's our anniversary present," Rogue replied. "Which reminds me, mind if I borrow your ensuite?"

"Go right ahead. What anniversary present?"

Rogue just winked at him. She scooped up her bag and made her way into his adjoining bathroom. A little perplexed, Gambit set about packing things up. Finally the door opened and Rogue stood there, bag in hand, wearing a sex, red negligee. She grinned as Gambit looked her up and down appreciatively.

"Well, this is a," Gambit began, paused, then continued: "Wait, we're not going to get up fighting again, are we chère?"

Rogue giggled and put the bag—full of clothes—down on the floor.

"I do believe I 'forgot' to tell you," she replied merrily, sauntering over to him. "Logan rescinded the ground rules as of today."

"He what?" Gambit asked incredulously as he slipped his hands onto her hips.

"He rescinded the ground rules. We can have sleepovers again, we don't have to run every date by him any more, and we don't even have to go easy on the PDA—although it might be a good idea to keep going with that one at first," Rogue said with a grin. "And I seem to remember that you wanted a night with me wearing something sexier than pajamas so... here I am. Although really, I don't think this should count as the favour I owe you, seeing as how I kinda like the idea myself."

Gambit's only response was to kiss Rogue thoroughly. One hand shifted around her back to hold her close while she wrapped hers around his neck. His other hand massaged her hip, then slowly slid down to her behind and gave her a light smack as his kissing lips moved into a smirk.

"Hey," Rogue objected. "What was that for?"

"You let me touch your boobies," he teased her. "I recall promising to spank you if you gave into temptation."

Rogue was silent for a moment, then poked out her tongue and blew raspberries at him. Gambit chuckled wickedly and then slapped her other butt cheek.

"You have two boobies," he grinned at her.

"You are such a child," Rogue informed him, wagging her finger in his face.

"You're only young once—okay twice—but you can be immature forever," Gambit replied sagely.

Rogue giggled.

"Well," she said as she pressed into him. "You'd know all about that, wouldn't you, Swamp Rat?"

"Mmmhmm," was his only reply as he got stuck back into kissing her again.

Their tongue mingled as they backed towards the bed. Rogue tugged at the hem of his shirt and when the backs of her knees hit the bed she stopped kissing him long enough to pull it off. Gambit lowered her down on the bed and began kissing every bare patch of skin he could put his lips to.

Rogue wriggled back on the bed and pulled Gambit down on top of her. He ran his hands along her body while hers dug into his back and shoulders as they kissed. Eventually he sat up, straddling her and looked down at her lovingly.

"You know Remy," she mused as he kneaded her hips. "I hope that you're not planning on wearing pajamas to bed either."

"Commando?" he suggested with a smirk.

"Boxers or briefs," she corrected. "It would be awfully one-sided if only one of us was naked."

Gambit chuckled and got up off the bed. He headed to his underwear drawer pulled out a pair of boxers. He glanced back at Rogue for a moment and saw she had shifted up to the head of the bed and was making herself at home on one of his pillows.

"Hmm better get changed in the ensuite," he said as if thinking aloud. "Else Roguey might see my hiney."

Rogue giggled and threw his shirt at him while he ducked into the ensuite. When he came back out, he dumped his clothes on the floor and then got into bed next to Rogue who was already under the covers. He snuggled up close to her and encircled her waist with his arm. Rogue kissed his nose.

"Love you," she said softly.

"Love you too," he replied.

* * *

At 4am, after his normal four hours of sleep, Gambit awoke feeling full of energy. This wasn't exactly unusual for him. What was unusual was finding Rogue curled up in bed next to him. Happily, he snuggled up close to her, his stomach to her back, and his arm over her side. She didn't stir. He moved her long hair out of the way, rested his head on the pillow behind her and kissed the back of her neck. Her negligee had crawled up her body in her sleep, exposing her stomach and lower back, and Gambit took advantage to caress her soft skin. For a brief moment he seriously considered going further north but decided to behave himself. Still, the idea of touching those voluptuous breasts of hers again was terribly tempting.

His kisses moved past her neck to her upper back and shoulders. His legs rubbed eagerly against hers and somewhere in the moment, Rogue woke up grumpily.

"Remy what are you doing?" she mumbled. "It's still dark. What time is it?"

"Four," he replied.

"Erg," she grumbled. "Trying to sleep."

He chuckled, kissed her lips and got up out of bed. Rogue pulled the pillow over her head while Gambit changed. She didn't escape another kiss from her boyfriend before he departed for his early morning workout in the danger room.

* * *

Later that day, after Rogue had told Gambit off her waking her up so early in the morning, the two headed out so that Gambit could pick up the present he was planning on giving Logan and Storm.

"Actually," Gambit said, sitting down on a bench outside the supermarket. "I've changed my mind."

"Well, that's a relief," Rogue said. "That was a really poor tasting gift idea, Remy."

"I'm going to call in that favour you owe me and make you do my shopping for me," Gambit went on with a smirk as he handed her a shopping list and some cash. "Don't be long."

"What?" Rogue exclaimed. "No way! No! You can't make me do this."

"Sure I can. Nothing unreasonable about you doing my shopping for me," he replied merrily.

"But I... but you... I'm not going to buy that!"

"Actually, it's 'them'."

"What?" Rogue questioned and glanced at the list. Gambit laughed as her face went bright red. "Remy! No, no, no! Absolutely not."

"The more you protest, the more I want to see you do it," he said delightedly. "It's nothing to get so wound up about, chère. I've bought them plenty of times."

"You just suck on so many levels," she said, glaring at him. "Fine, but this is under protest."

"Wouldn't be much fun if it wasn't, Roguey," Gambit replied.

"One question though."

"Oui?"

"What section are they in? I refuse to ask a shop assistant."

Gambit chuckled and told her. With her head held high, Rogue stalked into the supermarket and down the appropriate aisle with a small basket in hand. It took her a little while to find them because she usually only came down this aisle for feminine hygiene products and certainly never noticed... those... before. Still, at last she found where the condoms were 'hidden' on upper shelves. Rogue referred back to the list Gambit had given her.

_"Lubricated, ribbed... _glow in the dark? Mint? _Oh hell, they flavour these things?" _she thought to herself as she pulled off the required boxes and quickly dropped them into the basket. _"Ultra-thin and... K-Y jelly. Remy, I'm going to kick your—"_

"Rogue?"

Rogue turned her head in horror, her eyes falling on Kurt. She wasn't very familiar with his outward appearance—he being a recipient of one of Forge's image inducers which he was now using—but she knew Kurt's voice all too well.

"Kurt!" she exclaimed, her face going bright red with embarrassment. "Oh hell, it's not... I'm not... They're not for me, they're for Remy!"

Kurt raised his eyebrows.

"No, I mean they're for Logan, I mean... oh hell," Rogue babbled on, sensing she was digging herself in deeper. "Uhh, I gotta go."

She rushed past him, adding a hasty "See you on Sunday" as she made a beeline to the nearest cash register.

The look on the face of the college-age male cashier made Rogue's face burn even brighter. She avoided his eyes as he rung up the sale and handed over the money.

"And here's your change," he said, handing the money and the receipt back to her. "Have a good time."

"Uhh, thanks," Rogue replied quickly, practically snatched the bag from the counter and almost ran over to Gambit who was grinning like an idiot. "I am never _ever_ doing that again. I ran into Kurt and now the cashier thinks I'm some whoring teenager _and you completely suck!_"

"You should see the look on your face," Gambit replied with much delight. "I would have made you do this ages ago if I thought I was going to get this reaction."

Rogue poked her tongue out at him. Gambit just laughed and they departed.

* * *

Thus it was two weeks later that Logan and Storm's anniversary arrived. They were both much pleased and surprised when their friends presented them with their anniversary present. Kendall was eagerly accepted into Jubilee's arms while Gambit then presented them with his extra present. Storm eyed Gambit suspiciously while Logan undid the loose wrapping paper with one of his claws.

"I thought you might want to avoid another accident," Gambit teased them when the basket of condoms (and the K-Y jelly) was exposed for all to see. "But I wasn't really sure which ones you'd prefer so..."

"Squeaky?" Logan said darkly.

"Oui, M'sieur Claws?"

Logan paused and then smirked at him.

"Thanks," he said. "They should come in useful later."

Gambit cracked up laughing.

"I, ahh," Storm said with a cough. "I think I'll go get ready."

"I'm sorry, Storm!" Rogue called after Storm as she made her way up the stairs with dignity, away from the snickering or otherwise embarrassed crowd. "I tried to talk him out of it."

Gambit just laughed harder.

* * *

**AN: **I tossed up whether to have this note at the top or the bottom and then figured, if I have it at the top, it'll spoil the ending so! The condom thing is for LizzieTurbo who wanted a condom to appear but not during sex ed because that would have been too easy, hehe. You should have see the lightbulb above my head light up at that suggestion, bwahaha.


	46. Holy Fangirl Batman

**Chapter 45: Holy Fangirl Batman**

Gambit grinned at Rogue, sitting in the bus outside of the church.

"This is a switch," he teased her. "It used to be me who chickened out of going in there."

"Kurt saw me with the condoms that you made me buy," Rogue pointed out.

"So?"

"So, I'm not sure I can look him in the eye."

Gambit chuckled and grabbed her arm to pull her out of the seat.

"C'mon, chère," he said. "It'll be fine. I'm sure that Kurt was just as embarrassed as you were. Alternatively, you could always ask what _he_ was doing down that aisle."

"It's the pharmacy aisle," Rogue pointed out as she reluctantly let Gambit lead her out of the bus. "There are plenty of non-sexual reasons why he could be down there."

Gambit just laughed at her and wrapped his arm about her waist so she could escape as soon as they had room to walk side by side. They entered the church and as they past by the doors they spotted Logan and Kurt chatting. Kurt looked up at that same moment and Rogue's face went bright red with embarrassment. Gambit laughed again when she hid her face in his shoulder.

Logan caught the look and Kurt's uncomfortable cough and looked at the blue mutant with raised eyebrows.

"Am I missing something?" Logan asked.

"Oh, uhh," Kurt replied uncertainly. "Rogue and I just... had an encounter in the supermarket a few days ago."

"Okay," Logan said slowly, not really enlightened as to why such an encounter would evoke this reaction. "What's the big deal?"

"Rogue was, erm, purchasing, certain... things..."

"That is normally what people do in a..." Logan paused, remembering a certain anniversary present from two days ago. "Was she buying condoms?"

"Ja," Kurt admitted, not meeting Logan's eyes.

"Did you happen to count the boxes? Because if there was more than five, Squeaky's a dead..." Logan paused, remembering he was in a church. "Remy's in trouble."

"I honestly couldn't say," Kurt replied.

"Hmph," Logan considered. "I might thump him anyway, just to make sure."

* * *

Rogue looked up from the car she was servicing when the garage door opened and Bobby pulled into his usual parking spot. Trey climbed out of the passenger side and Bobby opened up the back so that Trey could pull out his bag.

"Morning," Rogue greeted. "I see you decided to return to us."

"Good morning Rogue," Trey replied tolerantly. "Yes, Bobby was kind enough to pick me up from the airport. Where's Logan?"

"He's expecting you in Storm's office," Rogue replied.

"Oh, right," Trey replied and Rogue grinned to herself, figuring he had expected to find Logan in the garage as well.

"Now if you'll gentlemen excuse me..." Rogue went on and looked back under the hood.

"Oooh, I've been upgraded to 'gentleman' now," Bobby chuckled.

Rogue snickered and the two passed. Trey dropped his bag off at his room and then made his way to Storm's office.

"Rogue said you wanted to see me?" Trey said tentatively.

"Yeah," Logan replied. "Good to see you back."

"Well, I'm happy to be here," Trey replied.

Logan considered him for a moment and then shrugged. "I guess you are. Congratulations, you just got your security clearance upgraded."

"I did?" Trey queried, sounding somewhat perplexed.

"Yep, this way," Logan said as he directed Trey to follow him out of the office. "You were a little... nervy when you arrived and we weren't sure if you would stick around, so we didn't tell you everything."

"Ahh, well, you know," Trey replied tentatively as he followed Logan to the elevator. "New place. Everyone so blatantly mutany, err, not that that's a _bad_ thing, far from it, I just wasn't expecting so many visible signs of it, whether it was physical appearance or kids just using their powers every which way. Took a little getting used to."

"Has anyone ever told you that your tongue runs away from you?" Logan asked as they stepped into the elevator.

"Frequently, I'm afraid," Trey replied.

Logan grunted.

"You probably heard about a danger room when you were here?" Logan queried.

"Ahh, yes," Trey said. "I did wonder about that. I understand it's used for people learning to control the more dangerous powers?"

"Yeah, it's used for that amongst other things," Logan confirmed. "It's a holographic simulator."

"A what now?"

Logan chuckled and explained further on the way to the danger room. When they arrived in the control room, Trey looked out through the window and recognised a number of students engaged in a pirate simulation.

"As you can see," Logan drawled. "They're using it to entertain themselves even as we speak."

"And all that...is a _hologram_?" Trey said, amazed.

"Yep. Only real things in there are the kids."

"Wow. This is... This is _incredible! _The possibilities for this kind of technology are—"

"Not for sale," Logan said firmly. "Professor Xavier was very clear about that point in his Will. Besides, there are only three people here who even understand how this thing works: Hank, Forge and Jones. And speaking of Forge."

The next stop was to Forge's lab where Logan told him about how Forge had adapted the holographic technology to create the image inducers.

"Check this out," Forge said excitedly, grabbing one of the two watches and strapping it on his wrist. "First, I'm Forge and now I'm Batman!"

"Uhh, Forge," Logan smirked at him. "Actually you're Gumbo."

"What?" Forge asked then held out his hands and saw that instead of black gloves, he was sporting a pair of white hands that didn't line up correctly with his brown hands. "Aww man, I accidentally picked up Remy's by mistake. I can fix this!"

Forge switched it off and swapped it for his real one while Trey stared.

"Which is why they have to be custom made for their owner," Logan said. "We're bringing them in this year for the kids with visible physical mutations that want them."

"Okay!" Forge said. "_Now_ I'm Batman."

"So why is there one of Remy?" Trey asked, somewhat unnerved by this.

"Because he was testing the tech for us," Logan replied. "Which brings us the final thing on your security clearance upgrade: There's only one Remy LeBeau (and thank goodness for that)."

"I'm not sure I understand," Trey frowned.

"Do you want me to call him?" Forge asked Logan.

"Sure," Logan nodded then turned back to Trey. "Remy's a forty-one year old man—almost forty-two actually—stuck in a teenage body."

"This is Batman to Gambit," Forge said merrily over the intercom. "Batman calling Gambit. You're needed in the Bat Cave."

"Well, when I say stuck, he's aging normally again, he just lost twenty-six physical years," Logan amended after giving Forge an odd look. "There was a little incident involving the Cure a few years ago and he's been posing as his own son ever since."

"Posing as his own son?" Trey repeated.

_"This is Gambit calling Batman,"_ said Gambit's voice over the intercom. _"I'll be there in five Bat minutes."_

"Excuse me?" Forge replied. "Do you ever hear Robin telling Batman to wait five minutes?"

_"Désolé, mon ami, are you comparing moi to the Boy Blunder?"_ was Gambit's response.

_"Hey! The Boy Blunder—umm, I mean the Boy _Wonder_—is hot. Don't knock Robin!"_ Jubilee objected.

_"Holy fangirl Batman," _Gambit replied._ "I do believe the Firecracker has a crush on a comic book character."_

"There's nothing wrong with that!" Forge insisted. "Wonder Woman is hot, all right?"

_"Eww Wonder Woman? She runs around all day in a bathing suit, a pair of boots and a whip,"_ Jubilee pointed out.

"It's not a whip! It's a lasso," Forge corrected.

_"Close enough," _Jubilee dismissed._ "Seriously, could she get any more blatant?"_

_"With comic book artists responsible? Oui,"_ Gambit replied.

_"You don't see any of us dressed like that," _Jubilee went on.

_"I don't know," _Gambit mused. _"I've seen Betsy model some stuff that came pretty close. Not to mention some of the gear Emma runs around in."_

"Hey," Logan objected. "The intercom is not for personal conversations. Squeaky, get your butt down here, now."

_"Aww but I was enjoying that," _Gambit replied. _"That's what this place needs: in house radio."_

_"Yeah! That's a great idea!" _Jubilee agreed.

"Angelica, turn the intercom off for the next half hour the next time someone makes a comment," Logan said.

_"Yes sir, Wolverine sir," _Angelica replied smartly.

"Good attitude, keep it up."

"I think that counts as a 'comment' M'sieur Claws," Gambit said as he walked into the lab. "Bonjour, Forge, Mr McGraw."

"We were just telling Trey about your situation," Logan said.

"Ahh," Gambit nodded and held out his hand to Trey. "Let's try a proper introduction this time no? I'm Remy LeBeau, the only, been posing as my own son and lately, been posing as my father. It's been kinda fun bagging myself out, but sadly, all things must come to an end. Nice to meet you."

Trey looked at him for a long moment and finally a grin slowly appeared on his face.

"I always thought it was a little strange I never saw you both at the same time," he told Gambit. "I just put the fact that you sound the same down to being related."

Gambit chuckled.

"Wait," Trey said abruptly. "You're not really dating Logan's _daughter,_ are you?"

"Oui, m'sieur," Gambit smirked. "Although if it makes you feel any better, Roguey's twenty-two, not sixteen."

"Believe me, I wish they weren't dating," Logan said.

"Aww, you say that now, mon ami, but we both know you can't wait to have me for a son-in-law," Gambit joked. "And don't say you're not old enough to be a grandfather. By my reckoning, you're old enough to be a great-grandfather."

"Squeaky, I'm only just getting used to this dating business. Don't even joke about getting married," Logan considered what he just said and then added: "I can't believe you're even making marriage jokes in the first place."

Gambit laughed.

"Okay so," Trey cut in then. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"Nope," Logan replied. "Holograms are as far as your new security clearance goes. The students are only allowed to use the image inducers while off campus, and they have to sign them in and out."

"And as you may have noticed, they have to be custom made for each person individually," Forge added. "Additionally, it's only a change of physical appearance. It won't change how they sound or how they feel."

"Yeah, I ran around naked using mine once," Gambit said.

"I knew it!" Logan exclaimed.

"_After_ the poker night, a couple of days before I gave the image inducer back to Forge," Gambit added. "Actually the poker night is what gave me the idea. Besides, it was a hot day and I wanted to feel the breeze."

Forge laughed and Logan gave him a dour look. Gambit grinned with mischief.

"Just when I thought I was getting used to this place," Trey said with a shake of his head and a sigh. "Say, how's Craig doing? Does he know about this yet?"

There was silence for a moment. Trey looked at the three curiously.

"Craig's dead," Logan replied. "Suicide."

"Oh," Trey said with a blink, uncertain of what to say. "Does... is... uhh..."

"His family's been notified, they've had the funeral, all that jazz," Logan went on. "I can give you the number if you wanted to send your condolences, but Storm did arrange something on behalf of the school."

"Oh, uhh, I'm sure that's enough," Trey said. "I'm just a little... I'm sorry I should have said something."

"Said what?" Logan asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Well, it's just that... Craig didn't... well... I'm not really one to speak ill of the dead and all, but he did voice some anti-mutant sentiment to me. I did think it was very strange that a man with that kind of attitude would agree to work as a counsellor at a _school _for mutants but I thought maybe he was having trouble adjusting too? I don't know..."

"I doubt anything you did or didn't do had any impact on Craig's decision, mon ami," Gambit said seriously. "And we've already done the 'surely we could have prevented this from happening' thing."

Trey nodded slowly.

* * *

"Kitty! Pete!" Rogue exclaimed, bounding over to give them each a hug. "How'd it go? I hope you had a great honeymoon."

"Oooh we did, thanks," Kitty replied, hugging Rogue back fiercely. "It's so good to see you."

"Ahh, Rogue," Pete said. "You remember my sister Illyana?"

Rogue turned to look at the young blonde teenager.

"Hi sugar," she said, holding out her hand to her.

"Hi," Illyana replied.

"She's going to be attending the school this year," Pete added.

"Well we're glad to have you," Rogue said with a decisive nod.

"We just need to organise a room," Kitty said. "Angelica's still the one to talk to?"

"Yep," Rogue confirmed.

"There been any more excitement between her and Bobby and Sam?" Kitty asked curiously.

"Nah," Rogue replied, shaking her head. "Sam—and Paige—returned home for the summer as per usual, so mostly Angelica and Bobby have been avoiding each other. Personally, I suspect he's giving Remy's old life as a womaniser a lot of serious thought this summer. Oh and speaking of rooms, we took the liberty of moving your things into one of the new doubles in the teacher's wing."

"I could really kiss Storm for that," Kitty sighed. "It was such a good idea to add those rooms when we got the extension done. The idea of looking for our own place seems like such a hassle, especially when we both work here already."

"Besides," Pete added. "With Illyana here this year, I think I would have preferred to stay here until she gets comfortable with the place."

"You don't need to baby me, Piotr," Illyana objected. "I can take care of myself."

* * *

"Have we found anything on this Stryfe group?" Storm asked.

"You know," Doug replied. "You'd be surprised at just how many people and groups decide to call themselves 'Stryfe'. And what is with this obsession with people deliberately misspelling words anyway?"

"I can't say that I know," Storm replied with a smile.

"How are people supposed to learn to spell properly, if everyone's spelling things the wrong way on purpose?"

"I wonder the same thing myself."

"Anyway, so far most of what I've come across are fictional characters and avatars," Doug said, rolling his eyes. "Most of the avatars are for forums and games but so far I haven't come across anything to do with mutants. Well, except where there are mutants involved in whatever fictional world the latest 'Stryfe' comes from."

Storm nodded slowly.

"Well," she said finally. "Keep at it."

"Will do."

* * *

Gambit walked into the dining room on the morning of the sixth of September without a shirt on.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Squeaky?" Logan said. "Like a shirt or an image inducer?"

"Non," Gambit replied cheerfully. "Although I am hoping Roguey has a fun sixteenth birthday present for me?"

He grinned winningly at Rogue as he sat down beside her. Rogue looked at him and made a point of dragging her eyes over his bare torso.

"Maybe later," she teased. "I kinda like this view."

"Fine by me," Gambit replied and got started on his breakfast.

The fact that Rogue had his birthday present—obvious despite being wrapped up that it was yet another shirt—did not go unnoticed by those around them. Both went on eating like there was nothing at all remiss about the situation.

"Squeaky, get a shirt on," Logan said finally.

"Aww, but no one's making Warren wear a shirt," Gambit pointed out.

"You don't have wings growing out of your back," Warren replied.

"So?" Gambit grinned at him.

Rogue laughed and passed the present over.

"Happy Birthday, sugar," she said and kissed his cheek.

"Merci chérie," he replied and kissed her back.

He ripped off the wrapping paper and pulled out a shirt with a picture of a double bunk bed and the words "I like it on top". Gambit laughed.

"Is it that obvious?" Gambit asked loudly, making sure that Logan heard him.

Rogue giggled. Logan groaned.

* * *

At roughly 4am the next morning Rogue was woken up—yet again—by Gambit nipping on her earlobe. This was slowly followed by the realisation that their legs were intertwined, his hands were running feverishly across her back and stomach and she didn't even want to think about his manhood pressed against her behind, with only their underwear between them.

Okay, maybe she did a little.

"Remy," she complained. "I'm gonna stop sleeping over if you're gonna insist on waking me up at this indecent hour."

Gambit chuckled softly and rolled her onto her back so he could kiss her. Rogue let him have a moment and then pushed him off, citing 'morning breath' and to let her sleep. Gambit chuckled again, kissed her one more time and then finally got up. With a grumpy sigh Rogue pulled the pillow over her head and tried to get back to sleep.

* * *

Gambit was out at the gazebo in the process of setting things up for his and Rogue's 3rd anniversary of their regression. It seemed insane to think it had been three whole years since he became a teenager again. He was greatly relieved that the nightmares about the regression had all but stopped.

He never dreamed it would be at the time, but this really ended up being a lucky break for him. He had Rogue. He got out of being executed or exiled for killing Julien. He had Rogue. He didn't have to become the Guild leader. He had Rogue. He got his eyes back. He had Rogue. He had a chance to look back on his life and change all the stuff about himself that he didn't like, and oh, did he mention he had Rogue? Gambit chuckled to himself.

A flicker of magenta light caught his eyes and Gambit turned to see that he'd accidentally charged up one of the wine glasses. In annoyance, Gambit reached out to reabsorb the charge. He thought he'd been getting so much better at stopping those pesky slips too.

What the hell? Why wasn't he reabsorbing it?

Gambit concentrated harder, his grip on the wine glass drawing tighter.

"Come on," he said to it. "Come back into my body like a good charge."

It didn't. Instead _more_ kinetic energy slipped out of his body and into the wine glass. The magenta light grew brighter until Gambit realised the whole thing was a lost cause and the glass was about to blow. He turned and flung the wine glass into the air as far and fast as he could.

_Bang!_

Gambit swallowed and stared in horror. He wasn't concerned about there being glass shards or anything in the grass; the charge had been far too high for there to be anything left. What really scared him was that he still had plenty of energy inside him, raring to go, yet the charge in the wine glass had been greater than what he would have put into an entire deck of cards. He should have felt a noticeable hole in his supply but instead he felt like all he'd done was charge a single card enough to kill.

"Remy?" Rogue asked curiously as she joined him. "What was that?"

Gambit turned, wiping the frown from his face and replacing it with a smile.

"What was what?" he asked.

"That bang. Are you blowing stuff up again?"

"Aww, but what are anniversaries for, if not blowing things up?" Gambit asked and held out the chair for her. "Have a seat."

"Thanks," Rogue replied with a smile and looked over the table. "Only one glass?"

"I thought I'd just drink out of the bottle tonight," Gambit replied nonchalantly as he took his own seat. "One less thing to wash up."


	47. Overload

**Chapter 46: Overload**

Rogue went around the classroom and began collecting the electronic babies from Gambit's seventh-grade sex ed class for the year.

"So, what did we all learn from this experience?" Gambit asked.

"I am never having kids," said one of the girls up the back.

"Aww, don't say never, fille," Gambit grinned at her. "Just 'cause you're not prepared to deal with a baby now, doesn't mean you won't be later. Roguey gets stuck looking after these babies all the time and she still wants kids, dontcha, Roguey?"

"More fool me," Rogue joked.

"There you go. Now, what did we _learn_, not what did we _decide_?" Gambit asked the class.

The next segment of the class was spent addressing the different problems they had looking after the babies and the impact they had on their daily lives. Rogue sat in her usual chair, making the usual smart responses and generally amused at how the same questions, comments and observations came up every time with few exceptions.

"All right then," Gambit said once the discussion fizzled out. "As this is the last class are there any other questions anyone would like to ask? Squidboy?"

"How do you talk dirty?" Squidboy asked.

Gambit grinned and wondered briefly what Evelyn would have to say about her son asking that! Of course, in the sense of practising safe sex, dirty talk was pretty harmless, but Gambit didn't imagine that anyone would be very happy if a sudden fad for it began in school.

"Well, mon ami," Gambit replied wondering how long he could stall giving any real answers, "first you have to find your sexy voice. Now for you boys, I'd suggest waiting until after your voice has broken. I don't know too many filles who are into the boy soprano, although this is a crazy world we live in, so there probably is one somewhere who is. Actually, given the variable popularity of the falsetto there's probably a few who are into high-pitched men. Go figure. The point is you have to find what works for you. Oui, Illyana?"

"Why is the desk pink?" Illyana asked.

"Hmm?" Gambit replied and glanced down at the teacher's desk he'd been sitting on the edge of, which was now showing signs of a charge. "Oh that's not pink, Illyana. That's magenta. This particular shade is also called fuchsia, so I will accept either name for it."

Gambit avoided Rogue's gaze as he attempted to absorb the charge. However, like a few weeks ago with the wine glass, instead of bringing the charge back in, more kinetic energy went out and even as he spoke to Illyana, the entire class watched the desk glow brighter.

"Remy..." Rogue said cautiously.

"So if there are no more questions, I guess you can all have an early mark," Gambit went on, concentrating very hard on at least not letting the charge go even if he couldn't reabsorb it. "Have fun."

Slowly, and with unusual quietness, the students got up and started to leave. Rogue made her way over to Gambit and it was only when she was right in front of him that he finally made eye contact.

"I can't absorb it," he said matter-of-factly as the door closed. "You need to make sure all of the nearby classrooms are evacuated, including the ones upstairs."

"Just how large an explosion are we talking about here?" Rogue asked with her voice and eyes full of a mix of horror and concern.

"I don't know," Gambit admitted reluctantly. "Look, you have to go. I'll stave it off as long as I can but..."

Gambit grunted and the magenta glow grew brighter still.

"Go," he told her.

Rogue licked her lips, leaned in and kissed him gently.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too."

"Don't get hurt, you hear me? Make sure you give yourself enough time to get away."

"Then you'd better start clearing classrooms," Gambit replied.

Rogue nodded and chewed her bottom lip as she started backing out of the classroom. She wanted to say more, but no words would come to her. Gambit remained on the desk, wrestling for control. It felt like the more he tried to reabsorb the energy, the more energy was released. It was quickly becoming a draining effort to keep the charge from releasing.

* * *

Rogue started running down the hallway to the nearest classroom when something red flickered in her peripheral vision. She stopped to look and a wry grin appeared on her face as she realised what it was: a fire alarm. She took hold of the handle and yanked it down. A moment later the siren sounded.

"Rogue? What's going on?" Bobby asked as he and his math class emerged.

"You know how Remy's been slipping every now and then? Accidentally charging things?" Rogue asked as they walked quickly down the hallway with the students and other teachers in tow.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, well, he's done it again," Rogue said grimly. "Only he can't reabsorb it this time, and it's going to be a big one. He's holding off until the last minute, but every second we waste is another second he doesn't have to get out, and the desk was getting brighter all the time."

"Crap," Bobby muttered.

Before long the school was gathered on the lawn and Rogue repeated the story to Storm and Logan. Logan only needed to hear it once before he went running back inside.

"What's he doing?" Trey asked. "I know Logan has a healing factor thing and all but—"

"Remy's a gambler, Trey," Storm replied grimly, "but there is only one life he will gamble with and that's his own."

"Storm, what are you saying?" Rogue asked, although the sick feeling in her stomach told her she already knew.

"Remy will hold onto the charge until the last possible second and then he'll let go. He won't allow himself any time to get away safely if he thinks he's buying more time for everyone else," Storm said.

Rogue looked out towards the classrooms with her fists clenched by her sides.

"If he dies," she muttered, "I'm gonna kill him."

* * *

Gambit didn't need to open his eyes to know Logan had entered the room and Logan didn't need to look at Gambit to realise just how much trouble they were in. The light was bright enough to reflect off all four walls of the classroom, the smell of sweat was all over Gambit and the grunting and panting noises coming from him almost made it sound like he was constipated.

"What are you doing here, Logan?" Gambit asked tersely.

"I'm saving your sorry ass," Logan replied, stalking over to the outside wall.

"Just my ass?" Gambit asked. "Or you gonna save the rest of my sorry self too?"

"Yeah, may as well," Logan said as he extended his claws. "Don't want Rogue crying on me 'cause her boyfriend got himself killed."

Logan ran his claws first around the window frame so he could remove it, then through the lower wall. Once freed of the building, he kicked the newly cut section outward where it actually made a fairly decent step from the foundation to the ground.

"Can you do that one-handed Gumbo?" Logan asked, walking back to the opposite wall.

"Oui," Gambit replied after a pause.

"Okay, move to the edge of the desk, as close to the outside as you can get without letting go. When I say run, you run, got it?"

"Oui," Gambit grunted.

He opened his eyes and stepped onto the floor. He kept his right hand on the desk, feeling more energy seep out and fill the desk. He shuffled across to the very edge, keeping his hand on the corner and looked towards the outside.

"Run!"

The two bolted for the hole in the wall. Gambit kept a mental hold on the charge for as long as possible, but he only just got to the gap before he was forced to let go.

The desk blew.

Logan had been deliberately running behind Gambit, as close to him as he could manage it without them getting tangled up in the hope that he might be able to shield him from the worst of the blast. The sheer force of the explosion closed the gap, sending them both flying outside. Gambit face-planted on the grass and then promptly had the wind knocked out of him by the impact of Logan's weight.

* * *

_BANG!_

The school watched in shock as half of the classroom block blew up in fuchsia smoke.

"Remy!" Rogue screeched.

She was off like a flash, running full force and ignoring any cries for her to come back. Her feet pounded into the ground, her heart racing and then abruptly she was off the ground with a pair of furry hands under her arms.

"Need a lift?" asked Hank.

It took Rogue a moment to realise that Bobby had turned to ice and was now ice-sliding himself, Hank, Pete and Emma towards the site, much faster than she could run. Hank carefully lowered her down on the slide.

Only seconds later, Bobby brought them to a stop. He waited only long enough for his passengers to get off and then set about icing over the fires Gambit's explosion had started. The French/sex ed classroom was obliterated, as were the two classrooms on either side, and the three above barely even had a ceiling left. The classrooms across and further down the hall, both upstairs and down, had huge chunks blown out of them. It was like someone had come along and just eaten a bite out of the classroom block.

Logan wasn't in very good shape either. His entire back had been blown and burnt down to the skeleton, but already they could see signs of his healing factor doing its job. Pete steeled up and helped Hank pick Logan up off Gambit.

"Oh my stars and garters! Get Logan down to the med lab, would you, Pete?" Hank asked.

Pete gave a nod and started off with his healing, if unconscious friend towards the nearest entrance to the lower levels. Rogue was kneeling by Gambit, relieved to find that there was a pulse, but he appeared to be unconscious also.

"He's alive," Emma reported. "The kinetic static is unusually low; I'm going in."

While Emma sent her mind inside Gambit's, Hank checked over his physical body. Rogue looked between Hank and Gambit anxiously, holding his hand. After a moment, Hank pulled out his phone.

"Evelyn? Pete has taken Logan to the med lab. He should heal just fine, but if you wouldn't mind attending him for me and please send Pete back up with the stretcher for Remy," Hank said when the nurse answered her phone. "Thank you."

"Is he going to be okay?" Rogue asked Hank.

"I believe so, although I won't be able to confirm it until we get Remy to the med lab," Hank replied. "He appears to have avoided the worst of the blast, thanks to Logan's intervention. Emma?"

They paused and looked up at the telepath.

"I'm guessing she's still concentrating," Rogue said.

"Indeed," Hank agreed.

"Okay," Bobby said as he rejoined them. "I think I've got all of it. I'm going to report back to the others, anything you want me to share?"

"Both are alive and at this stage I have no reason to think they won't survive. It primarily depends on how Remy's body handled Logan's weight. We'll be taking Logan down to the med lab as soon as Pete returns with the stretcher," Hank replied.

Emma pulled out of Gambit's mind just in time to see Bobby speed off on his ice slide.

"He's exhausted himself," Emma said told them. "He'll remain asleep while he replenishes his resources. Hank, you should run a full physical on him while you have him in the med lab, especially on his mutation."

"I was intending to," Hank replied. "I just wish he had come down when he first began to lose control. Rogue, would you happen to know how often he's been slipping up?"

"Not as often as he was in the beginning," Rogue replied thoughtfully. "Usually he just reabsorbed it. Although... There was a thing a few weeks ago—back at the beginning of October when we were celebrating our anniversary? Yeah, he blew something up. I mean, he played it off like he intended to, but I did notice we were missing a glass."

Further conversation was interrupted by Pete's arrival with the stretcher.

* * *

Gambit opened his eyes and saw the white ceiling of the med lab. Sure he hadn't laid his eyes on it in three years but he knew that ceiling all too well. He started to get up, only to be stopped by Rogue's hand on his chest.

"About time you woke up, Swamp Rat," she drawled. "I was starting to wonder."

"Hi Roguey," Gambit replied and then narrowed his eyes at her. "You're gonna make me stay here, aren't you?"

"Yep, and don't you try and charm me out of it either," Rogue said with a sharp nod.

"Aww, but where's the fun in that?" he sighed. "Fine, fine, is Logan okay?"

"Yeah, he finished regenerating hours ago."

"Hours? How long have I been asleep?" Gambit asked with a frown.

"Umm," Rogue paused and checked her watch. "Nine hours, almost ten."

"Merde, you're joking!"

"Uh uh."

"And you've been with me this whole time?"

"Except when I went to check up on Logan, yeah."

Gambit was silent for a moment.

"How bad off was Logan?" he asked quietly.

"He'd be dead if not for his healing factor."

Gambit winced.

"Remy, why didn't you come down here when you first started having slips?" Rogue asked.

"Wasn't a big deal," Gambit dismissed and laid back down on the bed.

"It was a big deal today," Rogue pointed out.

"Yeah, _today_ it was. It wasn't before. I had no way of knowing this would happen, Rogue. I was handling things just fine on my own," Gambit replied stubbornly.

"There's no shame in asking for help, y'know," Rogue said. "You came here voluntarily once before, as I recall."

"Oui, and it turned out I didn't really need it after all," Gambit retorted. "The only good thing that came of me coming here was _you_, and somehow I don't think any trip to the med lab will ever top that."

"I told you," Rogue replied, a small smile on her lips, "you don't get to charm me into letting you out of here."

"Is Remy finally awake?" Emma's voice asked through the doorway.

"Yep, he's awake," Rogue confirmed.

"Hank! He's up," Emma called and then sauntered into the room. "About time you woke up. I have other things I need to do. I can't be coming down here every hour to check on you, you know."

"Oh well then," Gambit replied expansively. "Please don't let me inconvenience you any longer, chère."

"Mmmhmm," Emma responded. "I took the liberty of going into your head while the static was down. You all but completely drained your entire store of kinetic energy plus whatever you had been generating at the time, thereby exhausting yourself. This was considerable, I might add, given that you'd been overloading your storage space. We're probably lucky you only took out _half_ the classroom block."

"Half the..." Gambit repeated before words failed him.

"From what I can tell, your ability to generate energy is increasing faster than your ability to store it," Emma went on seriously. "This means you need to stop reabsorbing energy when you slip."

"Désolé, chère, I'm not sure if you realise this but that's how things go boom," Gambit said dryly.

"Then you'll have to stop slipping, won't you? In fact, you're going to have to start finding ways to use up as much energy as you can as often as you can," Emma went on briskly. "Run whatever programs in the danger room use up the most energy for you. For that matter, if you just want to get in there and blow things up for an hour, do it. I'll do my best to keep an eye on how your storage issue is going, but my best chances of getting into your mind is going to be straight after an exhaustive danger room session. We'll alter the schedule so you get at least an hour in the afternoons as well."

"Does it have to be just the danger room?" Gambit asked quietly. "I can't just work out in the gym?"

"If you think you can use up just as much energy that way. The danger room would contain explosions."

"Ma famille doesn't have the luxury of a danger room."

Rogue squeezed Gambit's hand and Emma nodded slowly as Hank entered the room.

"You'll have to figure that one out for yourself," Emma replied. "Might I suggest you take a plane, rather than a train this year? Unless you and Rogue were planning on having a lot of sex on the trip to and from, I doubt you'll expend enough energy."

Hank coughed uncomfortably and Rogue blushed.

"Hmm, that's a thirty hour trip, Emma," Gambit considered. "I have done that before, but unlike Christa, Rogue actually needs sleep."

Rogue's eyes boggled. Emma remained composed and was about to respond with a scathing retort when Hank (whose blue fur hid his blush) spoke up:

"Ahh, if you're done Emma," he said, "I would like if I could speak with Remy alone."

"Yes, I've done," Emma confirmed. "Remember what I said, Remy: if you don't stop holding it in, you're going to have another incident."

"I'll be outside," Rogue told him.

Rogue kissed his lips gently and followed Emma outside.

"I hope this conversation is going to end with me being freed from the med lab," Gambit said as the door closed.

"When we found you after the explosion, Logan was lying on top of you and in that way shielded you from the blast—" Hank began.

"There are so many inappropriate comments I could say about that," Gambit mused, then saw the look on Hank's face. "Désolé, mon ami, you're trying to have a serious conversation and I'm making jokes. Please, continue."

"However," Hank continued after an incline of his head to acknowledge Gambit's apology, "you did end up with a couple of cracked ribs as a result of Logan's...landing."

Gambit frowned and touched his chest, free of both pain and bandages.

"I don't understand," Gambit said. "If I have cracked ribs, how come I can't feel them?"

"If I didn't have the original x-rays I'd doubt it myself," Hank replied. "Remy, your generation of kinetic energy indirectly enhances your metabolism and directly enhances your agility, speed and dexterity. Now it seems that it also enhances your cellular regeneration rate."

"Meaning?"

"You have your own, unique variety of healing factor."

Gambit gave a low whistle.

"At the rate you generate energy you should have woken up half an hour after the fact," Hank went on. "It's been approximately nine and three quarters of an hour since the explosion. It took your body that long to generate enough energy to repair the damage and replenish your store so you could wake up."

"So, not on the level with Logan's healing factor then?" Gambit asked with a smirk that hid his shock at the news.

"Not even close. If Logan's bones weren't constructed of adamantium, he would have healed from that injury in a matter of seconds," Hank confirmed. "However, fractured ribs can take weeks, even months for the average person to heal from, so the fact you did it in under ten hours is impressive. As I said; you should have woken up after half an hour. When you didn't I went looking to see what was happening to the energy you should have been generating."

"And it was going towards healing me," Gambit said.

"Exactly."

"Well, I suppose that makes up for not being able to take painkillers."


	48. Best Shirt Ever

**AN: **Ooh special treat today. ANs at top and bottom. Ooh la la. Hehe.

Anyway:

aiRo25 requested an amazing dance scene. Well, I have a dance scene. I don't know if it's amazing, but I do know that it took me three or four days to write and I lost count of how many videos of the rumba I watched on YouTube, haha. I also have a new found respect for choreographers.

On a side note, it is so a dirty book Rogue is reading in this opening scene. She just doesn't want to admit that to Remy. Probably wise, hehehe.

* * *

**Chapter 47: Best Shirt Ever**

Rogue and Gambit were on the plane to New Orleans and Gambit was feeling restless. Granted, this wasn't exactly unusual. He leaned on the arm between himself and Rogue and peered over her shoulder to look at her book while his other hand shuffled a deck of cards absently.

"How's the book?" he asked.

"Fine," Rogue replied, not looking up from it.

"Is it a dirty book?"

"No."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

"Then why is Alexander mesmerised by Gwendolyn's luscious orbs?"

"Because she's a witch."

"Uh huh."

"She is!"

Gambit coughed. "Dirty book," he said and coughed again.

"It's not a dirty book and I'm trying to read it, Swamp Rat," Rogue replied in annoyance. "Silence."

Gambit grunted and there was quiet for a time.

"Wanna make out?" he asked.

"We're on a plane."

"So?"

"I think some things should be done in private."

"There's always the bathroom," Gambit suggested mischievously.

"I am now treating you with ignore."

Rogue realised even before Gambit started kissing her neck that that was probably the last thing she should have said to her boyfriend. Now he was just taking it as a challenge to prove she couldn't ignore him. He kissed her up to her ear and nipped at her earlobe before kissing back down to her collarbone. His hand ran down her thigh and his fingers rubbed her inner leg enthusiastically.

When Rogue still refused to respond, Gambit pushed up the chair arm between their seats and moved in right next to her, as close as he could get without squishing her against the wall. He pocketed his cards and then switched hands so the card shuffling hand was now on her leg, and his other arm was now around her shoulders.

Rogue clenched her jaw and focused on her book. She was going to enjoy this book by Joanna Allerdyce and not pay any attention to his light nibbling of her neck. (She wondered if there was any relation to John Allerdyce? Nah, the odds against it were probably enormous). It was harder to stick to her guns though, when she felt his hands start to move higher up her leg and he started sucking on her neck.

It got to the point where his neck-sucking was actually starting to get painful when Rogue closed her book, leaving her finger in place, and whacked him lightly over the head with it.

"Would you stop that?" she demanded.

"Stop what?" he asked innocently as he captured her hand and leaned into kiss her lips.

"Argh, can't you just wait until we get to New Orleans?" Rogue asked, frowning at him.

"What can I say, ma chère, I just have all this extra energy and nothing to do with it," Gambit replied, grinning at her.

"Didn't you do an extra long DR session before we left?"

"Emma did say as much energy as possible as fast as possible."

"Remy..."

"Share my bedroom with me?"

"What?" Rogue asked, startled.

"Y'know," Gambit said. "My bedroom at the Guild. Share it with me this trip."

"I... I don't know Remy," Rogue said hesitantly. "I mean, a sleepover occasionally, sure but every night for two and a half weeks? I'm not really sure that's a good idea."

"Why not, Roguey? It's not like we're in there all day. I've got the ensuite, so we can still change in private," he pointed out as he caressed her cheek.

"I guess," she conceded. "But you're going to have to stop waking me up in the middle of the night to make out."

Gambit chuckled.

"I mean it, Swamp Rat," Rogue said fiercely. "You wake me up an indecent hour even once, and I'll move back into the guest room."

"Hmm, so my best bet is to go to sleep at three and wake you up when I wake up at seven to make out," Gambit considered.

"Eight," Rogue said. "Go to bed at four."

"Done."

"And you have to let me read now."

"Aww, but I'm booorrred."

"What kind of board?" Rogue asked. "Chalk board? Ironing board? Game board?"

"Smart ass."

"No, that's not a board."

* * *

Finally the flight came to an end. It was late and cold so Rogue put her jacket on and they picked up their bags and were driven to the Guild by Mercy and Aimee who had come to pick them up. Once through the doors, and into the warmer temperature, Rogue took her jacket off again.

"What's that on your neck?" Aimee asked curiously.

"What's what?" Rogue asked, turning her head to see, but of course, it was on her neck and she couldn't.

Gambit covered his mouth and began snickering. Rogue narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him.

"Okay Squeaky," she said direly. "What did you do?"

"You would appear to have a hickey," Mercy informed her, keeping her smile to herself.

"Dammit, I _knew_ telling you I was going to ignore you was a bad idea," Rogue muttered.

"Then why'd you do it, chère?" Gambit teased her.

Rogue wagged a finger at him. "Just you wait until I get my paws on you."

"Oooh, promises, promises."

"Ahem," Mercy interrupted. "Dinner'll be ready in half and hour."

"Merci Mercy," Gambit replied merrily.

Mercy ignored the old, worn joke and Rogue and Gambit took their bags up to his bedroom. As soon as the door was closed, Rogue made a beeline for the ensuite and checked her reflection.

"Remy LeBeau!" she exclaimed.

Gambit chuckled as he came up behind her and ran his hands over her waist and across her stomach.

"Admiring my handiwork?" he asked.

"Jerk," Rogue growled at him. "You don't see me planting hickeys on you."

"Is that all that's bothering you? You can give me one right now, if you want," Gambit replied cheerfully.

"I'd ask if you weren't just a little old for hickeys if I didn't already know you were going to say you're sixteen," Rogue replied dryly.

Gambit chuckled. "I bite because I love. Well, actually I made that one by sucking, but saying 'I suck because I love' just doesn't have the same ring to it. And they're called 'love bites' not 'love sucks' anyway, so you loose that part of the joke."

"Remy?" Rogue said, addressing his reflection in the mirror.

"Oui chère?" he asked, nuzzling her neck and pressing his lower body into hers.

"If you give me a hickey again, I'm going to kick your ass."

* * *

Henri watched Gambit pace around the dining room with growing amusement.

"Planning on sitting down any time?" he asked his brother. "Or were you going to wear a hole in the floor?"

"I was going to sit down after food arrived," Gambit replied. "With any luck, I should have the start of a hole in the floor by then."

Henri chuckled.

"Remy's under strict orders to use up as much energy as he can as often as he can," Rogue said with a grin. "He can either put a hole in the floor by walking on it, or by blowing it up."

Aimee giggled as Gambit chose that moment to start walking across the floor on his hands.

"Oh yeah?" Henri asked, sounding amused. "Why's that?"

"Remy didn't tell you?" Rogue inquired.

"Tell us what?"

"Oh, well, he accidentally blew up half the classroom block," Rogue said. "We're talking a serious chunk of mansion here that now has to be rebuilt. Storm wants to take advantage to upgrade some of the equipment, but in the meantime we've moved classes to the dining hall, the ballroom, and some of the extra large bedrooms in the teacher's wing that were meant for couples. It's a little cramped, not to mention it being cold. I mean, we did close off the section and everything, but we now have inside walls for outdoor walls and it just doesn't work too well for keeping the heat in and we have snow."

"Remy," Mercy said, looking amused. "Most school kids only try to _burn_ down the school, not blow it up."

"Well, you have to admit, it does have the same result," Henri smirked.

"Yeah, it's not actually that funny," Gambit said tersely, flipping upright again. "It was in the middle of a school day and I was busy teaching. If Rogue hadn't pulled the fire alarm, most of Xavier's population would have gone with it."

"Whoa," Aimee said, the only LeBeau who could say anything in response.

"Right so," Rogue said, cutting into the awkward silence that followed. "You're just going to have to get used to Remy being more fidgety than usual."

It was then that dinner arrived and conversation ceased until the servants departed. Gambit finally sat down at the table, although both legs bounced underneath.

"Just... How did you manage to _accidentally _blow up that much, Remy?" Henri asked. "You've always had good control over your powers."

"Obviously I never fully came into my powers after Stryker fiddled with me," Gambit replied with a shrug. "Emma thinks my ability to generate energy is increasing faster than my ability to store it so it ended up overflowing. On the bright side, I now have the green light to have all the fattening foods and alcoholic beverages I want."

"I know a few femmes who would love to be able to say that," Mercy mused.

"Oh it's worse than that," Rogue said, disgustedly. "He needs the calories or he's going to end up a stick. He will never be fat."

Gambit chuckled wickedly. Henri looked down at his beer gut and sighed.

* * *

Sebastien stepped into the gym and the first thing he saw was Gambit working out, sparring against an imaginary opponent with one of the wooden starves they had for practice. His eyes just about bulged out of their sockets trying to keep up with the speed and complexity of his uncle's moves. Gambit must have seen him, for after a moment, he slowed down and turned to him.

"Bonjour, Sebby," he said cheerfully.

"Bonjour," Sebastien replied, wondering how it was that Gambit wasn't even panting. "Désolé, I didn't mean to interrupt."

"No, I was going to finish up soon anyway," Gambit dismissed after a quick glance at the clock. "Missed you at dinner last night."

"Oh, yeah I was working."

"How's the apprenticeship coming?"

"Yeah, not too bad," Sebastien replied with a shrug. "Still got another year to go."

"You planning on getting your Master Thief ranking, or you just going to back out of stealing altogether?" Gambit asked curiously.

Sebastien shrugged and looked down at the floor. "Don't know, really. Either way, I'm going to wait until Aimee gets hers before I decide. You know, so there's no contest."

Gambit nodded slowly as he approached.

"I want you to know I'm proud of you, okay?" he said, putting his hand on Sebastien's shoulder. "It wasn't so much that you told Marcus, it was more that you didn't tell us that you told him."

"I still blabbed."

"Oui, that's true, but my identity is not worth your life," Gambit said seriously. "Even if the rest of the Guild never knows, you still took responsibility for what you did and that takes a lot of guts."

"Well, anyway," Sebastien replied tentatively, looking embarrassed. "I, uhh, I really like cooking."

Gambit chuckled.

"So do I, actually," he said. "Although when Tante Mattie first recruited me into her kitchen I never thought I'd say that."

"You got recruited by Tante Mattie?" Sebastien asked in surprise.

"Sure, when I was ten and first started living here," Gambit replied cheerfully. "Don't need as much sleep as everyone else and the only time I ever sleep in is when I'm sick, so Tante Mattie recruited me to keep me out of mischief."

"Wow. I like sleeping in. So glad we don't serve breakfast where I'm working."

Gambit laughed.

* * *

"Well, this is nice," Gambit said a couple of days later at the Guild Christmas party. "Things haven't been this peaceful since before Marius Boudreaux was still alive. And they got the Whores to attend this year too."

Rogue chuckled.

"Ahh and there's Mignonette," Gambit said smugly. "My not-daughter."

"Yep," Rogue nodded.

"Excuse me, Roguey," Gambit said mischievously. "I have an urge to make Bella Donna cringe."

"Don't do anything that'll make me want to hit you, Swamp Rat," Rogue warned him.

"Maybe I want you to hit me," was Gambit's cheeky reply.

Rogue watched with her arms folded across her chest as Gambit approached Mignonette and asked her to dance. Evidently she conceded because Gambit led her out onto the floor. Rogue smirked to herself as she watched Gambit deliberately dance with Mignonette past where Bella Donna was chatting with Mercy.

Keeping the smile firmly plastered on her face, Bella Donna addressed Mercy: "I can't believe I'm saying this, but right now I actually wish she was his."

Mercy chuckled.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about," Mercy told her. "He and Rogue have become very close. It's funny; we only see them once a year and yet that's enough to tell just how devoted they are to each other."

"Doesn't look like it from where I'm standing," Bella Donna said tersely, watching as Gambit dipped Mignonette backwards, his face dangerously close to hers.

"That's just Remy being annoying," Mercy chuckled. "I see it's working."

As the song came to an end, Gambit pulled Mignonette into him with enough force to make her gasp as they hit. He captured her eyes with his own and leaned into her as if to kiss her before sliding his head to the side at the last possible moment and whispered into her ear: "Just think chère, I could have been your _father_."

With a broad, cheeky smirk across his face, Gambit winked at her and left Mignonette with that thought as he turned and headed back to Rogue, who had a dire expression on her face.

"Got a little close there, don't you think?" she said evenly.

"It's called dancing, ma chère," Gambit replied as he took her hands. "You're supposed to get close. And speaking of dancing..."

He pulled her out on the floor and she followed reluctantly. He smirked at the dark look on her face and circled around her, one hand dragging around her waist. He stopped in front of her and knelt down, dragging his hands down Rogue's stomach and onto her hips. As he stood back up again, he slid his hands to her back and Rogue caught the wicked glint in Gambit's eye, just a second before he dipped her backwards over his knee.

Gambit was well-pleased to see the dark look had turned into an answering challenge and was even more delighted when she lifted her leg over his side. On the way back up again, Rogue ran her hands up his chest, the first couple of buttons of his shirt undone, and draped them around his neck. However, the smug look on her face told Gambit that she had no intention of standing just yet, and he walked backwards a couple of paces as her right foot slid across the floor and with his hand tucked under her left knee.

Rogue refused to stop being a deadweight when Gambit stopped, so he let go of her knee by sliding his hand down her leg to her behind. At the same time he leaned in as if to kiss her and grinned smugly when she stepped back to avoid him. He retained her hand, however, so she couldn't escape completely, and they both knew she didn't really want to. He pulled her back into him, her back pressed against his front. He lowered his head to smell her neck while his hands ran over her midriff.

Rogue rested her head back on his shoulder and as Gambit lifted one hand to touch her cheek he saw the smile she couldn't hide. She lifted her own hand to his face and turned on the spot to face him properly. This time it was Gambit who shied from the kiss and with one hand firmly planted about her upper back, he whirled Rogue around with him until they came dangerously close to other dancers and were forced to part.

Rogue grinned at Gambit while the dancers moved past and he grinned back at her. With a short run, he dropped to his knees and slid across the floor to her. In typical, opportunistic Gambit style, he ran his hands up one leg as he stood again. Their noses met and Rogue held his head in her hands as Gambit's hands rested on her waist. They danced back and forth with their bodies pressed against each other.

Gambit whirled her around under his arm and Rogue broke contact to step around his legs. She finally stopped with one leg either side of his right leg and Gambit pulled her into him sharply, his upper thigh firmly pressed between her legs. For a moment their lips lay only a tantalising inch apart and then Rogue lifted her left leg around him and leaned backwards to the point where her hands touched the floor.

As the last notes of the song drifted away, Gambit pulled Rogue back up again and she lowered her leg. With noses touched they looked into each other's eyes, Rogue breathing hard from the exertion. Gambit tilted his head to the side and drew her in for a firm, wanton kiss.

* * *

"All right then Roguey," Gambit said on Christmas morning around the tree with his family. "This one's for you."

"Aww, thanky," Rogue replied, taking hold of the present, which was larger than she had been expecting, and exchanged it with her present to him. "And here's yours."

"Thanks," Gambit said, grinning back at her. "I wonder what this could be?"

Rogue giggled and the two opened up their presents. Rogue was a little surprised to see an unusually large jewellery box under the wrapping.

"Okay," Rogue said. "Rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, toe rings, sure, fine, but when on earth do you think I'm going to be able to wear a _tiara?_"

"I don't know," Gambit replied cheerfully. "But you now have one for whenever that occasion should come up. Oooh I love this! Henri! Is this true or what?"

Gambit held up the shirt so that Henri could read it.

"It's only a Gambling Problem if I'm Losing," Henri said. "You know mon frère all too well, Rogue."

Rogue giggled.

"Which reminds me," Henri went on and handed over a floppy present to Rogue. "Emil's in France, but he bought this for you, Rogue."

"Me?" Rogue asked in surprise. "Okay, wow."

"Why would Emil buy Roguey a present?" Gambit asked suspiciously.

Henri just grinned at Gambit while Rogue opened it up. She pulled out a shirt and burst out with an "Ohmigod!" followed swiftly by laughter.

"What?" Gambit demanded while Henri snickered.

Rogue's face was now going quite red, and unable to verbalise it, she turned the shirt around so that everyone could read what it said:

_CHARM  
Will Only Get You So Far  
After that you'd better have a big dick_

"Henri!" Mercy exclaimed.

"What?" Henri asked. "Emil's the one who found it."

"Best shirt ever," Gambit said gleefully. "Please wear that around Logan."

"Of course he approves," Mercy groaned.

Rogue laughed harder.

* * *

**AN: **This shirt really does exist. I saw it and after I got over my fit of laughter I went: "Rogue has to wear this shirt around Remy!" Brilliant!

And I did have a link up, but FFnet deleted it and now I don't remember where I saw it.


	49. Return of the Brotherhood

**Chapter 48: Return of the Brotherhood**

On their first night back at Xaviers, Rogue put on the new shirt that Emil had given her for Christmas and wandered into the staff room with a big smirk on her face. Gambit was busy playing poker with Logan, Bobby and Jubilee, and was wearing his new shirt too.

Unable to avoid hearing Rogue's amused thoughts, Betsy looked up from the television to see Rogue walk over to the poker table and read her shirt. She giggled; applying the shirt to Gambit gave it a double meaning that made it even funnier.

"Hey boys," Rogue drawled as she leaned on the back of Gambit's chair.

"Hi Rogue," Logan replied as glanced up from his cards briefly, and then promptly had to do a double take. "_Rogue?_"

Rogue giggled and Gambit looked up to see what Logan was so shocked about.

"Okay, don't you think the shirt thing is going a bit far?" Logan demanded.

"Possibly," Rogue replied, grinning away. "But now I just have license to buy Emil shirts with naughty things written on them."

"I'm sure his wife will be delighted," Gambit smirked. "Oh! Not to mention his kids. Oui, I can just imagine the looks on their faces when they see their papa running around in a shirt that says: 'Talk Dirty to Me'."

Rogue laughed.

"I think that's the payoff for having kids," Bobby said. "You spend all that time and effort raising them, and then you get to freak them out."

"Absolument," Gambit agreed. "C'mon, Logan, you can't tell us you can't wait until Kendall's older and you can freak her out."

"Not with dirty shirts I won't," Logan replied.

"Hey Bobby," Jubilee said gleefully, pointing her thumb at Rogue's shirt. "That's the real reason why you two broke up, isn't it?"

"It's true," Rogue said before Bobby could reply, and held her thumb and forefinger an inch apart. "Teeny tiny."

"Hey!" Bobby objected. "You never even saw it!"

"Yeah, I know. That's the point," Rogue teased him with a wink.

"The three most insulting words you can hear during sex," Gambit said. "Is it in?"

"Personal experience?" Logan asked him.

Gambit laughed.

* * *

Jones turned on the TV just in time to hear a news broadcast:

_"Stepford Industries is being attacked as we speak by five unidentified mutants,"_ said the reporter on the screen.

Jones eyes widened as he watched the scene unfold. The camera was literally shaking, metal flying through the air with a large blaze burning away in the background.

Jones licked his lips and then started for the elevator. He had to tell Storm immediately! But, wait, that meant waking up Logan... The very idea made Jones cringe. He did not want to be responsible for waking up Wolverine in the middle of the night. He hesitated and then his face lit up as he thought of an alternative: Gambit didn't need as much sleep as everyone else and he wouldn't kill him for waking him up either.

Pleased with his alternate plan, Jones ran for the teacher's wing, which brought up a different problem: Which room was Gambit's? Wait, Gambit had a TV didn't he? Jones closed his eyes and concentrated with his technopathy, feeling out for the different machines the facility had in their respective rooms. There weren't too many that had their own TVs, but eventually Jones settled on a room with a large widescreen LCD and a minifridge, and knocked on the door. There was no immediate answer and hesitantly, Jones knocked again. Abruptly the door flew open with Gambit standing there in his pajama pants.

"Jones? What is it?" he asked.

Jones licked his lips as words failed him and instead he turned on Gambit's TV, flicking it straight to the news channel.

_"...and I've just had word that one of the five mutants at the scene has been identified as Magneto. Fire crews have arrived and are attempting to put out the blaze..."_

Gambit turned his head to watch the newscast. Finally he spoke: "Thanks for telling me."

Of course, now Gambit was going to have to wake Storm and Logan. Wouldn't that be fun?

* * *

The speed of the Blackbird made up for time lost in waking people up. Before long, the x-jet had pulled up on the street near the complex on the other side of the crowd. Storm immediately took to the air and called upon the winds and rain to deal with the fires. Bobby ice-slid his way into the fray, iced off the fires and looked for his old friend. He didn't have to go far.

"Hey, Iceman!" Pyro yelled as a large bird of flame built up behind him. "Welcome to the inferno!"

Bobby dodged the flame bird. The flame bird turned on its wing flew on after him. Bobby shot a beam of ice towards it, which only succeeded in quenching a part of it, a part which Pyro used his mutant abilities to reform. Pyro cackled.

Kitty and Pete found themselves facing a red-clad woman who looked down on her scathingly.

"Do not interfere," Wanda said. "You X-men have already caused enough trouble as it is."

"Yeah, I don't believe we've met," Kitty said. "I'm Shadowcat and—"

"Ahh," Wanda interrupted with a flick of her wrist and a flash of blue energy. "That's nice to know."

The hex-bolt hit Kitty and sent her flying partially through a crate where her phasing decided to pick that moment to shut off. She struggled to pull herself out.

"I'm the Scarlet Witch," Wanda finished and turned her back on them while Pete turned to steel and began to free his wife. "Now I really must go. Have a good night."

"Well, it's about time!" Pietro declared, the words running off his tongue like he couldn't say them fast enough. "I was beginning to think nothing exciting was going to happen."

Warren flew towards him, but Pietro dodged effortlessly and the next thing Warren knew, Pietro had grabbed him and flung him up against the nearest wall. Warren fell to the ground dazed from the blow.

Emma stalked towards Avalanche, despite the ground rippling under her feet. At first she kept to her diamond form to avoid injury, but as soon as she could shred it, she lashed out at Avalanche with a couple of psionic bolts. Avalanche was out for the count.

"What are you doing here?" Magneto demanded of Storm as he took to the sky.

"I could ask you the same question," Storm replied. "What is it you plan on accomplishing here?"

"I do not answer to you."

"And I cannot allow you to reopen old wounds and undo all that's been accomplished these last few years to unite mutants and humans."

Gambit found himself on the ground, felled by Pietro's lighting fast blows. Gambit was fast, but he sure wasn't that fast. Pietro stood by and smirked at him.

"Can't catch me," he taunted and began running in lazy circles around him.

"Don't have to 'catch' you, homme," Gambit replied as he pulled out a handful of cards and charged them.

Gambit turned on his heel and flung charged cards out in all directions. There was a yell and Gambit knew he'd gotten him. He charged another handful of cards in preparation. The same time be began to shoot them out at Pietro, who dodged most of them despite being injured.

"No!" Wanda objected.

Along with her cry came another hex bolt, this one straight at Gambit. His connection with the final card in his hand went off prematurely and blew up in his face. He yelled in surprise as the blast burned his brow, his cheeks and his eyes. His hands flew to his face and he felt very much like he was having a flashback to his regression. Wanda ran to Pietro's side.

"You all right?" she asked.

"Look what he did to my arm!" Pietro protested.

"I'm going to do worse than that in a minute, homme," Gambit said darkly as he strode straight for them, staff extended and in hand despite his pain and blindness. "Don't take with hitting women, neither, but you could do with a good spanking, fille."

However, all further fighting was halted by metal strips which took hold of Wanda, Pietro, Avalanche and Pyro, lifting them into the sky to join Magneto.

"Aww but I was winning!" Pyro complained.

"You live at a school, Ororo," Magneto said. "Next time, do your homework before going to class."

Storm watched as they left and she and Bobby kept up their effort to put out the last of the fires.

"Emergency crews can take it from here," Storm called from her aerial position. "Let us go before they decide we're responsible for the destruction."

Everyone began to make their way to the Blackbird. Storm flew down to Warren, who was still dazed, and used her winds to carry him to the jet. They were boarding when Bobby frowned and looked around.

"Is Remy here yet?" Bobby asked.

Everyone looked around then, but no one saw him. Bobby took to the air on his ice slide and found Gambit not far away. He pulled up beside him and it was then that Bobby saw the damage to Gambit's face. He swore.

"Nice to see you too, Bobby," Gambit said dryly.

"Oh hell I'm sorry," Bobby replied. "Wait, did you just make a joke?"

"Possibly."

"Right. Okay. Did you want a lift back to the Blackbird?"

"No, I was planning on wandering around here aimlessly," Gambit replied cynically.

Bobby chuckled nervously and reached out to pull Gambit up on the slide.

"Hold on," Bobby advised and they took off again.

Emma was waiting for them at the door to the Blackbird when they arrived. Bobby slid them all the way to the door.

"There you are, Remy," he said, sounding more cheerful than he felt. "Door to door service."

"_Remy!_" Emma exclaimed. "What happened?"

Gambit didn't need to see to know that everyone was now looking at him. Really not in the mood, he ignored everyone and unerringly found the nearest empty seat as if he hadn't been blinded at all. An awkward silence followed and no one spoke until Storm took the Blackbird back into the air.

"Has anyone found out why they were there yet?" Bobby asked tentatively.

"Yeah, we think we know why," Kitty said grimly. "Pete and I found a name on some of the crates: The Stryfe Group."

"Avalanche—the young man responsible for the earth quakes—was of the opinion that the Stryfe Group is trying to destroy mutant life and they were there to deal with the matter as they saw fit," Emma informed them. "They believed that Stepford Industries was either a subsidiary or at the very least a supplier, and were attempting to shut down production."

"That's one way to make some progress on this Stryfe thing," Bobby said.

"Not my first choice," Storm replied tersely. "Emma, did you happen to find out who the other two Brotherhood members were?"

"Wanda and Pietro—also known as the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver—are Magneto's twin children," Emma reported. "Wanda has hexbolts which she apparently uses to alter probability and Pietro has super-speed."

"Alter probability?" Gambit repeated. "Scarlet _bitch!_"

"You're telling me," Kitty muttered. "She phased me into a crate."

* * *

"Remy, you need to go to the med lab," Storm insisted as she followed her injured friend out of the hanger.

"No, no I don't," Gambit replied fiercely, walking confidently down the hallway to the elevator. "What I need is to get to bed before I collapse."

"Remy, half your face is burned!" Storm exclaimed.

"Yeah man, you look a bit like Two-Face," Bobby added tentatively.

Gambit banged on the elevator button.

"What's Hank gonna do?" Gambit demanded. "Give me painkillers? Give me a couple of days and they'll heal on their own."

"Remy, be serious," Storm said as the elevator door opened.

"I am being serious, 'Ro," Gambit replied, pressing the button for the floor. "Hank thinks my kinetic energy provides me with a pseudo healing factor. I'm not stepping foot in the med lab. End of discussion."

"Healing factor?" Storm repeated. "This is the first I've heard about that."

"Hank identified it the _last_ time I was in the med lab," Gambit said, wishing that the elevator would hurry up and get to the top. "My powers enhance my cellular regeneration rate."

"So you're just taking that as license to avoid going to the med lab?" Storm demanded incredulously. "Not even Logan gets out of going to the med lab."

"More fool him."

"Remy—"

"Non!"

"You're being irrational. Hank has never once tried to experiment on you. There's nothing to—"

"It doesn't matter what spin you put on it, Ororo. I don't like being in there, and I don't like being poked and prodded. The fact that I'm so tired after such a pathetic work out should be sufficient proof that it's kicking in," Gambit interrupted angrily as the elevator door finally opened and he stomped out towards his room. "Ma tête me tue et je ne veux pas m'en disputer plus. Fait taire et me laissent la paix!"

["My head is killing me and I don't want to argue about this any more. Shut up and leave me alone!"]

* * *

Kitty phased through Gambit's locked door. She switched on the light and walked over to where Gambit was fast asleep in bed. She chewed her bottom lip at the sight of his face but the rise and fall of his chest confirmed he was still very much alive and she slipped back through the door again.

"He's alive," she told the waiting crowd. "He's just sleeping."

"I still say we go in there and drag his scrawny ass down to the med lab," Logan said, still rather sore that Storm made him stay home with Kendall under the pretext of 'but Magneto will be there and your adamantium skeleton does give him and advantage over you', like that really bothered him.

"Remy is entitled to refuse treatment," Hank said quietly.

"Remy is sixteen years old and you're his guardian, 'Ro," Logan said.

"Remy is forty-two, Logan," Storm said. "Hank, how long do you think it would take for him to heal?"

"Having not actually seen the injury, I couldn't tell you," Hank replied. "The only data I have on the matter is that gathered from the cracked ribs he acquired last year."

"Hi," Rogue said tentatively, joining the group with a tray of food in her hands. "Umm, I thought, maybe as Remy had missed breakfast..."

"Ahh," Hank said as he looked over the tray. "Good thinking, Rogue."

"If we can get him to eat it," Logan pointed out. "If we can't rouse him, you should exercise your guardianship, 'Ro, and unrefuse medical treatment so we can put him on a drip or something."

"Let's see how Rogue goes first," Storm replied.

Kitty touched Rogue's shoulder and phased her through Gambit's locked door.

"I'll let you let yourself out," Kitty said.

"Okay," Rogue replied.

Kitty phased back through the door and Rogue made her way over to the bed. She found a place to rest the tray on Gambit's bedside table and sat down next to him. She looked at his burned face with some apprehension, having only heard from the others how bad they were. The burns were nowhere near as bad as she had been imagining, but they were bad enough. It wasn't just his eyes, but also his nose and his cheek which had been blasted. She swallowed hard.

"Remy?" Rogue queried tentatively. "Remy? You awake?"

No answer.

"Well, I guess that was kind of a stupid question," Rogue mused, allowing her voice to increase to a normal volume. "So, umm, I have no idea if trying to wake you is a lost cause or something, and maybe you're not hungry yet, but I got breakfast for you. I even put one of those cool, fancy straws in your orange juice."

There was still no response and Rogue touched his shoulder.

"Remy?"

Rogue tapped her fingers on her leg. She had no idea how far she should push things to try and wake him. It was strange actually; usually he was the one waking her up. For a moment she toyed with the idea of seeing if she could arouse him into wakefulness, but decided against it and instead contemplated whether she should leave and try again later or continue now. She'd leave the tray behind, of course, not that she could expect him to do anything with it, being blinded and all. The way things stood at the moment, there wasn't even a way for her to tell if his eyes were open or shut. Gambit had probably been glad he knew the layout of the mansion so well, else someone may have been able to trick him into the med lab.

"Well," she said finally. "I guess I'll try again later. I'm going to leave everything here, just in case, but yeah."

She paused, and then leaned over to kiss his lips softly. At least they had evaded the scorching. Rogue gave a light gasp as she suddenly felt Gambit's hand behind her head, holding her close as he opened his mouth and deepened the kiss.

"I'm disappointed, Roguey," he said. "I was hoping you might decide to give me a taste of my own medicine."

"Well, I thought about it," she admitted. "I decided to be nice."

"That would have been nice."

Rogue giggled.

"Especially as I'm naked under here," Gambit added, grinning at her.

"Of course you are," Rogue drawled. "How are you feeling? You know, aside from disappointed?"

"Lethargic."

"I'm surprise that word is even in your vocabulary."

"I have a pretty good vocabulary actually, but then I also speak two languages."

"Bad and Dirty?"

"Oh very funny."

"Aww, see I thought you were going to say 'that's only one language' or something," Rogue teased him.

"Told you," he replied as he sat up in the bed. "I'm feeling lethargic. So, where's breakfast?"

Rogue picked up the tray, waited until Gambit had settled himself and then placed it carefully on his lap with a "here you go". She had expected to need to guide his hands to where everything was, but he didn't have any problems locating his food. It was almost as if he could see.

"Merci," he said before Rogue could query him. "I wasn't really looking forward to making an appearance like this and I was getting hungry."

"I can understand that," Rogue replied. "How long have you been awake for?"

"Kitty woke me up. I'm sure she thought she was being all so stealthy, but she wasn't," Gambit said between mouthfuls. "Then too, the arguing outside my door didn't help."

"I shall tell them to take their arguing elsewhere," she said.

"I'd appreciate that."

* * *

"It's about time you came out of there, Stripes," Logan said. "We were starting to wonder if you'd gotten lost in there."

"Actually Remy's room is surprisingly clean," Rogue replied and added with a wink at Bobby: "Now, Bobby's room on the other hand..."

"So," Bobby said as he stroked an imaginary beard, "you admit you've been in my room."

"How is he?" Storm asked, cutting in before another 'war of the smart mouths' could begin.

"He says he's feeling lethargic," Rogue replied seriously. "Didn't have any problems falling asleep again."

"Did you have any problems waking him?" Logan asked.

"Nah, he heard Kitty when she came in."

"He would," Storm commented dryly and took a moment to sip her tea. "I don't suppose you would know if he's doing any better?"

"Given that I never saw the injury when he first arrived, I couldn't say," Rogue replied. "He wouldn't say anything more aside from the lethargic thing. Oh, except that he wants you guys to stop arguing outside his door, and he gave me a message for you, Logan."

"Yeah?" Logan said.

"Yeah, he wanted me to remind you that Kendall's the one you're supposed to be babying, and to stop being a mother hen," Rogue said, grinning at him and added quickly before he could respond: "He also said he will meet your challenge and that he can beat you blind and lethargic, because being a husband and father has made you soft."

Logan growled.

"Dear God," Bobby said, clasping his hands together and looking up at the ceiling. "Thank you for not making me Remy. Amen."

"Idiot," Rogue smirked at Bobby. "Anyway, I promised I'd bring his meals up for him. He doesn't want visitors right now."

"You mean," Logan said smugly, "he doesn't want anyone seeing his meal ticket deformed. You tell Squeaky it's going to be hard to land any punches if his hands are busy hiding his face."

Rogue giggled.

* * *

**AN: **Remy did actually go blind in the comics for a bit, but I'm handling it differently. For one thing, different circumstances. For another thing, I haven't read all the relevant issues yet. Hehe.


	50. You Can Wear the Bra

**Chapter 49: You Can Wear the Bra**

Gambit opened his eyes.

It was the first time in three days he had been able to open his eyes without it hurting. It felt good.

What felt better was discovering that Rogue had fallen asleep on the bed next to him. Gambit smiled and rolled over so he could wrap her up in his arms. The lethargy was gone, but he wasn't feeling so energised that he had to get up just yet.

Rogue stirred and tilted her head to smile at him.

"Hey," he said softly.

"Hey," she replied. "You're looking a lot better. I can't see any burns or scar tissue or anything any more."

"Bon. I feel better."

"Good."

"A little disappointed though," he added with a sly grin.

"Yeah? Why this time?" Rogue asked, bemused.

"I just think it's a little uneven; me sleeping naked under the covers and you sleeping fully clothed above the covers," Gambit said with mock-seriousness.

"You're right. You should get dressed," Rogue nodded.

"Or you could get naked," he countered.

"True," Rogue conceded, sitting up. "And you do raise a good point. I just realised I slept in my bra."

Gambit chuckled and then stopped in shock when Rogue pulled off her shirt. "Chère?"

"Will you settle for half naked?" Rogue asked.

"For now," Gambit replied without missing a beat.

Rogue snickered and unhooked her bra, pulled it off gratefully, set it aside and then slowly lay back down on the bed. They looked at each other.

"You're not under the covers," Gambit said finally.

"You're not wearing pants," Rogue pointed out.

Gambit lifted his hand towards where he kept a pair of pajama pants by the door. "So far away."

Rogue giggled and got up off the bed to get his pants for him. Gambit turned on his side and propped himself up on his elbow.

"If I had realised I'd get this reception, I would have let a card blow up in my face long before now," Gambit joked as he watched her.

"Is _that_ what happened?" Rogue asked as she climbed back on the bed and handed him his pants. "No one seemed to know."

"That Scarlet Witch femme zapped me and my card went off prematurely. Emma told us she alters probability," Gambit replied nonchalantly as he pulled his pants on under the covers. "So I blame her."

"On the bright side, at least you haven't had to worry about blowing something up by accident the last few days," Rogue replied.

"Speaking of using up energy," Gambit said cheekily, winking at her. "It's safe now."

Rogue giggled, got under the covers and slid over to Gambit who kissed her and captured her legs with his. While his tongue dipped into her mouth, his hands found their way to her breasts. He was pleased to see she didn't pause or tense for a second, instead she melted into his hands. This just made him kiss her harder.

She moaned softly into his mouth as he massaged her breasts and circled her nipples with his thumbs, teasing them into peaks. He turned her onto her back and straddled her as he kissed his way down her neck to her chest. Her breath quickened as he dragged his mouth over her left breast and rolled her nipple around with his tongue. She arched her back into him, seeking more, and her fingers dug into the sheet below.

He switched over to her right breast, trailing kisses all the way. As he ran his lips and tongue across her sensitive skin, his other hand went back to moulding her left breast with increasing rhythm. Rogue moaned again, louder this time and Gambit smirked and pulled himself back up to her face. His hands continued to pump her breasts.

"Do you like this, chère?" he asked, his voice low and husky.

Rogue just nodded, incapable of words just then. Gambit's smirk broadened and he kissed her lips firmly. He lowered his head by her ear and whispered: "You turn me on." Rogue gasped as a shiver ran down her spine.

Gambit chuckled lightly, and then nestled back down to rest his head on her chest. He wrapped his arms across her torso, encompassing his new pillows.

"Mine," he said happily. "They're mine now, Roguey. I have claimed your boobs in the name of Remy."

Rogue let out a short, breathy laugh.

"Oh good," she joked. "You can wear the bra then."

* * *

"He emerges!" Bobby exclaimed. "Hey Remy you look pretty good for a blind guy."

"I look pretty good for any guy," Gambit dismissed as he sat down at the table with Rogue for breakfast. "Hell for that matter I look pretty good for any member of the human race, male or female. I'm just that hot."

"Have you really got a healing factor?" Jubilee asked.

"Oui," Gambit replied. "You can imagine my delight. It's like a dream come true."

Laughter followed.

"No, really," Gambit insisted. "It is. Trust me, when you can't take painkillers because they run right through you, a healing factor is what you spend every birthday wishing for when you blow out the candles."

"Aww, so wishes do come true," Kitty giggled nervously.

"Well, well, well," Logan said, clamping his hand down on Gambit's shoulder. "Look who's finally out of bed."

"Bonjour M'sieur Claws," Gambit replied cheerfully, tilting his head to look back at him. "I almost didn't recognise you underneath all the femininity."

"Danger room, one hour," Logan deadpanned.

"Are you sure one hour is long enough to for you to get ready?" Gambit asked. "I wouldn't want you to run late and get all flustered because you hadn't done with your hair and makeup."

"I'm looking forward to finding out how good your healing factor really is," Logan growled.

"Why Logan," Gambit replied, fluttering his eyelids. "I had no idea you put out on the first date."

"I hope you don't want your boyfriend back in one piece, Stripes," Logan said.

"As long as he's still... functional," Rogue joked.

"Nope," Logan said. "That's gonna be the first thing to go."

"Aww sad."

"What are you worried about Rogue?" Tabitha asked, a cheeky glint in her eyes. "It's not like you're using all his 'features'."

"But the ones I am using are just so much fun," Rogue replied with a grin.

"I feel like a piece of meat," Gambit joked.

"That's fitting," Logan replied, "because in an hour and ten you're going to be shish kebob."

"Really? It's gonna take you _ten_ minutes?" Gambit questioned. "What's making you slow, mon ami? Marriage, fatherhood or old age? Or is it all three?"

"So, Rogue," Bobby said mischievously, "how long a period of mourning are you going to need after Logan kills Remy? Because I was thinking we could go catch a movie sometime."

"Hey," Gambit objected while Rogue laughed. "No moving in on my woman. Also, I have it on good authority that I can survive a nuclear holocaust, and therefore no period of mourning will be necessary."

"Yeah?" Logan asked. "Who told you that?"

"Stormy, Mercy, Henri, Emil, Etienne, Theo—and you actually—have all likened me to a cockroach," Gambit pointed out.

"A cockroach can go a week without dying when its head has been cut off," Logan said and extended his claws. "Let's see if it's true for you too."

"Okay, go right ahead," Gambit replied, catching Logan's eyes. "I'm ready whenever you are."

Logan retracted his claws.

"Don't be late," was all he said before he walked off.

Gambit chuckled and Bobby shook his head incredulously.

"You're certifiably insane," Bobby informed him. "One of these days Logan isn't going to verbally spar with you; he's just going to cut you to ribbons."

"If Logan ever snaps like that, I'd probably deserve it," Gambit replied cheerfully.

* * *

Gambit stepped into the danger room with one of the wooden practice starves. He preferred his own steel one, but he'd already lost one of those to Logan's claws before, and didn't care to loose another one (especially when he had no guarantee that Henri would let him have a replacement).

Logan was already in there, and he greeted Gambit with an "About time", before he started up the program. He was looking forward to wiping that cocky smirk off Gambit's face.

Gambit whirled his staff around with his fingers as the cityscape melted in around them. They circled each other in the middle of a construction site for a sky scraper. There were all sorts of construction tools and materials lying around, but the added obstacles just stood to make things more interesting.

Logan moved forward to make the first blow and Gambit dodged out of the way. Was it just Logan's imagination, or was Gambit faster than usual? Not the slightest bit put off (catching Gambit was always tricky) Logan prepared for another lunge.

Up in the control room, Rogue, Storm, Hank and other interested parties in there and the viewing room, all watched while Gambit and Logan sparred. The first time Gambit got Logan with the wooden staff, it broke in two.

"Useless things," Gambit muttered.

Still he charged it up and tossed the pieces at Logan. They exploded, but the wounding to Logan was only minimal, partly because Gambit hadn't charged them up that much, and partly because the X-men uniforms allowed them some measure of protection.

A dance began across the construction site. Where Gambit leapt and bounded from one beam to another, Logan climbed and clawed. Charged cards flew through the air. Despite the fact that Logan took more hits than Gambit did, it was obvious to those watching that the two were fairly evenly matched: Logan built to take hits and Gambit built to dodge them.

Then Logan did the one thing no one had been expecting. The claws came out as he was aiming for Gambit and stabbed through his arm, pinning him to the steel beam. Gambit grunted and Logan smirked at him.

"Didn't think I'd do that, did you, Squeaky?" Logan said.

Gambit's eyes glowed and magenta light flowed out over the beam. Three bands, one up, one down and the third around where Logan's claws sank in. They exploded, severing the beam and enlarging the holes that Logan's claws left, so the piece of beam actually fell off. The next step, of course, was to pull his arm off Logan's claws, but of course, Logan's wasn't going to let him get away that easily.

Suddenly a 'friendly' spar had become a lot more dangerous. Gambit did finally remove his arm from Logan's claws, but he only lasted a few more minutes before he collapsed. Logan shut down the simulation and checked Gambit's arm.

"Feeling sleepy already, Squeaky?" Logan asked. "You're going to have to work on that. It's your energy, you should be able to decide where it's going to get devoted. You can't be falling asleep in the middle of battle because of a little injury."

"A little injury, he calls it," Gambit muttered.

"Great," Rogue muttered from the control room. "Now I have to nurse-maid him again."

* * *

Gambit kept his eyes on Logan's smug face while he reluctantly let Hank attend his punctured arm. Now matter what speed his healing factor worked at, he was at risk of blood loss amongst other things just like everyone else. Besides, Storm refused to let him get away with refusing medical treatment again, not in front of all the students who had been watching the fight in the viewing room.

Logan leaned against the wall and met Gambit's eyes. Gambit had a rare talent for being able to throw someone the dirtiest glare ever and yet keep his face bland at the same time. Must be the demonic eyes, Logan decided.

Nevertheless, Logan's words had made an impact on Gambit. It was quite true that it was his energy and he felt that he should have some say in how and when it was distributed. It was with that advice in mind that Gambit was now alert but he found that some part of him had to fight to keep enough of the energy he generated to stay that way.

It was certainly one way to keep him from blowing things up accidentally.

Logan pulled out one of his cigars and as he lit it, Hank turned and frowned at him.

"Do you have to smoke that in here?" Hank asked.

"Yep," Logan replied.

Hank gave a long suffering sigh and finished up on Gambit's arm.

"Now, Remy," Hank said, holding out a watch. "This is an invention of Forge's."

"Has a thing for watches, doesn't he?" Gambit drawled.

"It will monitor your energy generation and usage," Hank said. "and allow us to collect more...hard evidence than what Emma can collect telepathically."

"You're gonna make me wear it, aren't you?" Gambit asked.

"It is, of course, completely up to you," Hank replied mildly.

"Then forget about it."

"In that case, I have to ask that you start coming down here on a weekly basis."

"Be happy to enforce that for you, Furball," Logan said around his cigar, his eyes not leaving Gambit's.

"What is this? A conspiracy? A guy can't have a little privacy around here?" Gambit demanded.

"Squeaky, you blew up the classroom block because you were too stubborn to tell us you were having problems," Logan replied. "Believe it or not, we're actually trying to help you."

"Wasn't that one of the reasons why you decided to stay here?" Storm asked. "You weren't sure what Stryker did and you wanted to stay with people who understood mutation?"

Gambit closed his eyes and sighed.

"I didn't realise then that that meant being poked and prodded in the med lab. Fine, I'll wear the stupid watch," he said begrudgingly, holding out his hand to Hank.

"Good," Hank said. "It also has your Remy One image inducing programs."

"Explains why it feels heavier," Gambit replied.

"Now, I want to check on that arm in 24 hours," Hank went on briskly. "We can do that here, or wherever you feel more comfortable."

"Wherever. Can I go now?"

Hank stepped back and gestured to the door. Gambit left.

* * *

"You wanted to see me, Doug?" Storm asked as she stepped into his office.

"Yep," Doug replied. "I found ourselves the Stryfe Group. It's the parent company of a number of smaller businesses including Stepford Industries. They seem to specialise in pharmaceuticals and medical equipment. Of particular interest... Wait, I'll just get it up..."

He tapped opened up another tab on his browser and opened up a website for "Sublime Specialities" and then went through the online shop.

"Ah ha, there we go," Doug said. "They're selling the Mentis Compesco online."

Storm leaned over and gave a low whistle at the price tag.

"Mentis Compesco," she read. "Not sure how your rivals are finding out your secrets? Do you still feel like a puppet having its strings pulled? Do you feel like your emotions are being manipulated? Are you frustrated with always loosing your temper or giving into that problem child that whinges and whines until he gets what he wants? _Sublime Specialties_ gives you _Mentis Compesco_, guaranteed to keep telepaths out of your head and keeps you cool, calm and collected. Side effects may include toughening of the skin, a pale complexion and sensitivity to telepathic intrusion."

"They've got raving reviews too," Doug said. "Some of them are a little...suss."

"Fake?"

"Not so much that. I think that some people are just paranoid that a telepath is trying to get in their head because a lot of them who talk about that aspect are all 'yeah I knew there was someone trying to get in my head and this stopped them in their tracks'. It's like, unless you're one of the ones who gets the sensitivity side effect, how are you going to know?"

"Indeed."

"But on the other hand, a lot of people had agreed that they do feel calmer using it."

"Probably what helps to keep their thoughts in check," Storm considered. "Emma did say that it didn't block out all thoughts, but I imagine that if you're in a fit of rage it's probably awkward to for it to block that out."

"Oh right, because thinking 'I hate this' in the middle of a temper tantrum is a superficial thought?"

"I imagine we'd have to go to Emma for clarification, but I'm assuming that's what she means, yes. What about the other side effects they mention? Any reviews on them?" Storm asked.

"Just the odd one," Doug reported. "A couple of people don't mind it. Others found that lowering the dosage and taking it more frequently reduced the skin toughening. Someone read that and decided to increase the dosage—which is not recommended, by the way—and ended up with tough, pale skin that makes them feel strong and powerful."

"Hmm."

"Anyway, they don't actually say anywhere that they're anti-mutant or anything," Doug went on. "I mean, it's kinda implied by the way they talk about keeping intruders out of your head but for the most part it seems more like they're advocating the use of mutant powers. I mean, look at this! They've got stuff to give you force fields and super-strength... Assuming all this stuff actually works, they're probably making a mint."

Storm nodded.

"I wish I'd thought to do a search on the Mentis in the first place. Would have found this a lot sooner," he added.

"At least now we know," Storm replied. "Prepare a report for our next meeting, would you, Doug?"

"This thing I can do."


	51. They're Baack!

**Chapter 50: They're Ba-ack!**

A few weeks later, on the night of Valentines day, Rogue and Gambit were curled up together on his bed in their night clothes. Rogue sighed and Gambit ran his fingers through her hair.

"Something amiss, chère?" he asked, having noticed that something had been off about her this evening.

For a moment, Rogue didn't reply.

"February, eleven, six years ago, exactly two months to the day before my seventeenth birthday," she said finally. "I was in my room with David, telling him all about this trip I was planning. We...we kissed and I absorbed him."

"Ahh."

"He was in a coma for three weeks."

"You've mentioned that."

"I think this should be the last time I sleep over," Rogue said quietly. "I just... I don't want them to manifest in my sleep and end up absorbing you by accident and not realising until I wake up in the morning."

"Fair enough," he replied solemnly. "Last time until you get control."

"Until I get control," she confirmed with a smile.

Gambit rolled over and kissed her lips, and then proceeded to kiss and nuzzle every part of her skin, including that which was under her negligee when he pulled it off. Rogue kissed and caressed him in return. Tonight it was slow and savoury, drawing out the sensations. They both realised that just because the sleepovers were ending, it didn't mean the making out would straight away, but somehow this still felt like their last night. It still felt like they both needed to make the most of this.

Eventually Rogue drifted off to sleep. Gambit watched her for a couple of minutes, but already feeling fidgety he dressed in his workout gear and made his way down to the danger room where he activated one of Logan's favourite programs: The Swarm.

Although it was intended as an exercise in endurance, Gambit found that on level ten, The Swarm was probably one of the most effective sims—if not The most effective sim—in using up his kinetic energy. One hour on a lower level was enough to wear most everyone else out. Three hours on level ten is what it took before Gambit was panting and finally feeling suitably drained.

Gambit returned to his room, had a quick shower and returned to bed with his beloved Rogue, he in his boxers, her in her panties, and drifted off into sleep.

* * *

Shortly before seven am, Gambit awoke, buzzing with energy. He looked over at Rogue to see the covers had pulled down slightly and he could see one of her nipples poking out. He smiled to himself and immediately closed the distance, wrapping her up in his arms. His foot began to rub itself against hers, his lips kissed her neck and his hand caressed her stomach.

Rogue's eyes fluttered open and she smiled up at him.

"Mornin' sugar," she said softly.

"Morning," he replied.

She was already on her back, so he took the liberty of climbing on top of her. Rogue parted her legs and he lay between them as he kept the kissing going on her neck and shoulders. His hands ran vigorously all over her.

Rogue reached over to the bedside table for the breath mint supply. Given Gambit's tendency to pounce on her on the mornings she slept over, breath mints were a must. She popped one in her own mouth and then placed the one for him between her breasts. Gambit grinned at her and took her up on her invitation.

Afterwards, Gambit was never quite sure what had gotten into him. He didn't know whether it was normal, first thing in the morning horniness, all his excess bio-kinetic energy, just the fact that he found Rogue unbelievably hot, the knowledge that this would be the last time he would wake up next to her for the foreseeable future, or a mix of all four. What he did know was that he wanted her. He wanted her bad.

A symphony of gasps, moans and groans emerged from Rogue's lips as Gambit's hands, lips, tongue, and teeth worked their way across her body. He bit down on her shoulder, squeezed her breasts, licked his way down to her navel and kneaded her hips. He nipped at her nipples and her earlobes and kissed her mouth breathless. His manhood pressed between her legs and Rogue moaned louder, feeling his growing hardness rocking against her.

"Say my name," he told her.

"Remy," Rogue said, her voice barely above a whisper as he put his mouth back on her breast.

"Louder."

"Remy."

"Scream it."

"Remy!"

Rogue had no time to think about how amazed she was at the reaction screaming his name got. His speed and enthusiasm seemed to double with that one word. She felt like she could barely breathe and even wondered if he might have been hiding an extra mouth and another pair of hands. It was hard, fast and hot.

Gambit pulled himself up to her head once more and practically growled into her ear: "I want you."

The underwear was frustrating. It was in the way. He wanted it to go. Needed it to go. The next words were out of his mouth before he could stop them: "Give yourself to me."

Time seemed to stop.

On the one hand, Rogue, so caught up in the intensity of the moment, opened her mouth to say "Oh yes, please take me, I'm yours". On the other, Gambit, sick to the stomach with immediate realisation of what he'd just done, pulled back, apologising and swearing his head off in both English and French without repeating himself once.

Gambit's verbosity, so out of place for the moment, would have been enough to break the spell of his charm over Rogue. However, there was one other thing that stilled the words that had yearned to come forth from her mouth. Slowly, getting her breath back, she sat up and swung her legs off the edge of the bed. She looked down at her hands.

"Désolé Rogue," Gambit was saying, although his words seemed so distant now to Rogue. "I swear, I didn't mean to do that to you. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Rogue scrubbed her hands together and finally got off the bed completely. She licked her lips and finally looked up at Gambit, although she avoided his eyes.

"I'm so sorry," he continued. "Please believe me."

"Remy, shut up," Rogue said finally, when they were only a metre apart.

Gambit pressed his lips together.

"I need you to stay still," she said firmly. "Don't touch me."

Gambit stopped still (or as still as he could) and gave a slight nod of his head. Rogue moved a step forward and slowly moved her hand out towards his face. Whether it was by reflex or impulse, Gambit moved his head to touch her hand with his cheek and Rogue snatched it back just before contact could be made.

"I said stay still!" she said angrily, stamping her foot. "I mean it, Remy."

Gambit twitched, but forced himself to stay as still as possible while Rogue reached out once more. Her hand hovered barely a centimetre away from his face and after a moment, she pulled her hand back and looked away. The sick feeling in his stomach increased. She couldn't bear to touch him or even look at him any more. He closed his eyes and slumped down to the floor in despair.

"I think my powers have come back," Rogue said finally into the quiet that followed.

Gambit looked up at her, uncertain about what to say. Rogue turned her back and started looking for her clothes.

"We can talk about this later," Rogue said tersely. "Right now, I want to see Emma. In the meantime, don't touch me."

"Okay," Gambit said meekly.

He got up off the floor and started dressing himself. However, once he realised what clothes Rogue would be wearing, he spoke up once more:

"Ahh, people will be getting up now, chère," he said carefully. "Did you want me to go to your room and get you some gloves or something?"

Rogue let out a long slow breath and nodded.

"Thanks," she said softly.

* * *

Gambit stood and waited outside the door of Emma's office where Rogue sat with Emma and Betsy. Rogue waited pensively while Emma and Betsy did their investigation and finally pulled out.

"You're correct," Emma said once she had emerged. "Your powers have manifested. Betsy, once you've drawn the mindscape, would you get Professor Xavier's mindscape drawings of Rogue?"

"Certainly," Betsy replied, already at work on her own mindscape.

"Okay, so, what happens now?" Rogue asked tentatively.

"Just a moment," Emma replied.

Once again, Rogue found herself waiting anxiously while Emma and Betsy drew their mindscapes. Betsy finished first and collected a folder from the bookshelf.

"Your powers have come back, but you haven't absorbed any one yet," Emma said, as she put her own recently-drawn mindscape in with another folder on the desk. "I believe we can use this to our advantage. It's a good thing you were able to recognise how your powers felt, even after all this time."

Rogue wasn't really sure what to say to that, so she said nothing while Emma went through the two folders. Betsy put her mindscape into a third folder and then peered over Emma's shoulder.

"Emma," Betsy said and pointed. "I know we have to account for artistic differences but..._that_ seems like an interesting 'artistic difference' to me."

Emma considered what Betsy was referring to on the pages before her, and then flipped and compared to other pages.

"Well now, I believe you're right, Betsy," Emma said with the voice of someone who's just experienced a most enlightening moment of clarity. "Rogue, I do believe I've found the problem."

"You have?" Rogue asked hopefully.

Emma handed over one of the folders.

"Flip the pages like you would a hand drawn animation," Emma instructed. "What do you see?"

Rogue picked up the edge of the thick pile of A5 size pages and flipped them as instructed. She did this a couple of time before she finally spoke: "It grows and expands."

"Those are the mindscapes I've drawn every week since your regression," Emma informed her and handed over another folder. "These are the mindscapes that Professor Xavier drew after every time he went inside your head after you came here. Do the same."

Rogue flipped the pages as well, many more times and frowned.

"These don't change at all," Rogue said finally. "Not really."

"No, they don't," Emma agreed. "I always thought it was strange, and sometimes wondered if it might not be artistic license on the Professors behalf. However, compare Professor Xavier's first image with my last one. What do you see?"

Rogue sat the two folders side by side on her lap and compared the two pictures.

"They look almost the same," Rogue reported.

"Now compare Professor Xavier's last image with mine," Emma said.

"They look almost the same too," Rogue said after her inspection. "There are a couple of places where it looks a little, umm, fatter, but otherwise the same."

"My word would be 'swollen'," Betsy said.

"Indeed," Emma nodded. "Rogue, Professor Xavier's mindscapes cover a little over two years of your developing life. There should have been far more significant growth than a little 'swelling'. Now, I have no way of confirming this, but I suspect that your first absorption, this David boy, stunted your growth."

Rogue blinked and Betsy looked at Emma with interest.

"Think of it as having a young tree and tying a cloth around a branch," Emma explained. "As the tree grows, it cannot push past that cloth. The rest of the tree grows fine, but then it gets to that cloth the best it can do is a little swelling. It's possible that your psyche storage capacity, or perhaps your psyche storage management, had not properly developed yet and as a result, David's psyche ended up where it didn't belong, tying off your ability to develop properly."

"So...what do we do?" asked Rogue, trying to take all of this in.

"We wait it out," Emma said firmly. "I suspect that you've finally entered that growth spurt you've been overdue for. We shall continue to keep an eye on things but for the next few months do _not_ touch _anyone_."

Rogue swallowed hard and nodded.

"If this theory is correct, we should see continuing growth," Emma went on. "If I'm right about your growth spurt, we may even see your mind growing past the bonds where the Professor depicted within the next few weeks. As soon as we're satisfied there's been enough development, we shall begin controlled experiments in exercising your power, starting with _choosing_ to absorb someone, I believe. A deliberate absorption instead of an accidental absorption may make all the difference in itself."

"Okay, well," Rogue said, sounding more composed than she felt. "I guess it's back to covering up then."

"In the grand scheme of things, I'm sure you'll find it's only a temporary inconvenience," Emma said firmly, and then added louder: "Remy, you may come in now."

The door handle turned and slowly opened. Gambit peered inside.

"You called?" he asked.

"Rogue is not to touch anyone at all until further notice," Emma said. "That goes double for you."

"Sir, yes sir," Gambit replied with a mock salute.

"I prefer ma'am," was Emma's smooth retort.

* * *

There was no short of fuss when Rogue reappeared amongst her friends wearing gloves once more. The pants were not really that big a deal, it being winter still and all, but the gloves were a dead give away that Rogue's powers had come back. She didn't tell anyone what had been happening when the came back, only said that it was like when Gambit's powers came back: he just knew when he could blow things up again. Most accepted that explanation without question. Those with dirty minds, who knew that Rogue would have slept over, or who had bedrooms next to Gambit, all had different ideas.

By the end of the day, however, Rogue was getting sick and tired of all the attention. She was tired of explaining, tired of hearing the well-wishing and the sympathies. Bobby managed to make her laugh with an "it's about time", but otherwise Rogue was grateful to finally get in her room and away from everyone.

That was, until, she heard the knocking on her balcony door. With a sigh she unlocked the door and moved away to put her gloves back on while Gambit stepped inside.

"Hi Remy," she said with tired patience.

"You ahh, you said we'd talk later," he said quietly. "Is this 'later' or would you rather I left?"

Rogue sighed and sat on the bed.

"Have a seat," she said.

Gambit pulled over her chair from the desk and sat down in front of her.

"I'm really sorry about this morning, chère," he said. "I got caught up in the moment...but there's no excuse for what I did and—"

"Remy," Rogue cut in. "I know. I know how you feel about that kind of thing and I know you do your best to avoid things like that happening."

"Evidentially, I didn't try hard enough," Gambit said fiercely. "I love you, Rogue. Believe it or not, I don't mind waiting before...before we go that far, and that just makes this morning all the worse."

"Actually, I was thinking it worked out pretty well," Rogue said.

"Quoi?"

"Remy, you remember when you first told me about your hypnotic charm, and tried to...seduce me and I asked you what you would have done if I had said yes?"

"Oui," Gambit said quietly, looking down at the floor.

"You said you'd leave, and if I ever needed proof of that, then I got it this morning," Rogue went on. "You were off me so fast, swearing blue murder, my power didn't even have a chance to absorb you."

"Well, that's true," Gambit conceded.

"And let's face it," Rogue said, with a hint of a merry twinkle in her eye, "we were down to our _underwear_. It was a miracle you didn't get absorbed. In fact, maybe that's exactly what it was. I mean, c'mon, Remy what are the odds of me having a boyfriend with that kind of speed and reflex, _and_ a reason to react at that exact moment?"

For a moment Gambit was silent.

"Divine intervention, huh, chère?" he asked, mildly amused.

"Got a better explanation?"

"I'm awesome."

"That's a fact, not an explanation," Rogue replied grinning at him. "Look, Remy, I guess, I kinda have mixed feelings about this morning. As far as my powers are concerned I'm thrilled that things worked out how they did. As far as we're concerned... I don't know. Part of me is upset and I guess, even a little scared because... because I would... I would have slept with you this morning, and I'm not even sure if I would have regretted it or not. And then another part of me is...is kind of excited and happy that I could evoke such... such a response out of you."

"You are a very desirable woman, Roguey," Gambit said, smiling fondly at her. "There's nothing I wanted to do more than to pin you down and ravage you."

"You were doing a pretty good job before we got interrupted," Rogue giggled.

"Oh, so you liked it?"

"Yep," Rogue nodded. "Although methinks one of these days I'm going to have to pin _you_ down and see how you like it."

"Ooh, fight for dominance in the bedroom," Gambit replied merrily. "Hottest sex ever."

Rogue laughed. Gambit took her gloved hands in his and kissed each of her knuckles.

"You have no idea how relieved I am right now," he admitted. "I was so... I thought I might have lost you."

"Well, as I said, I have mixed feelings, but overall, I think the good outweighed the bad," Rogue replied seriously. "But mostly I'm just happy—really, really happy—that we might finally know what was preventing me from being able to control my powers. I don't think I could be angry at you right now, even if I wanted to."

"You know what else, Roguey?"

"What, Remy?"

"You just made plans to make out with me in the future," Gambit said smugly.

"Yeah, I guess I did," Rogue giggled. "You know, this whole not-touching thing might even work out for us."

"How do you figure that?"

"Well, we were starting to get a little carried away."

"True, but it was fun."

"Yeah," Rogue agreed. "Yeah, it was."

There was a bit of an awkward pause and then Gambit stood up.

"I'd better go," he said finally. "If I hang around any longer, I'm going to be tempted to kiss you."

Rogue laughed.

"Fair enough," she said as she stood up with him.

"I'm glad we got this sorted though," Gambit said as he walked backwards towards the door.

"So am I," she replied as she followed him.

Gambit opened up the sliding door and Rogue reached up to touch his cheek with her gloved hand.

"I love you," she said softly as she ran her thumb over his lips.

"I love you too," he replied.

He kissed her covered fingers and after a moment's pause, finally stepped through the door. Rogue closed and locked it behind him, and then gave a startled yelp as she heard an unusually loud pop behind her. She turned and frowned, seeing a black mark on the table. Weird. If she didn't know better, she'd say Gambit had blown something up, but he had been nowhere near that part of the room, let alone touched anything there.

Unable to explain it, Rogue shook her head, dismissed the matter and took her gloves off again. She was going to curl up in bed with her book and enjoy the rest of the evening on her own.


	52. Yes There Are Other People Involved

**Chapter 51: Yes There Are Other People Involved**

Kitty sat nervously at the table and looked up as Pete entered the room. Their dinner was spread out on the surface.

"Sorry I'm late, Katya," he said in his quiet way. "My last class made a bigger mess than usual. It took longer to clean up."

"That's all right," she replied.

Pete sat down with her and looked at her curiously.

"Is everything okay?" he inquired.

"Well, uhh," Kitty began tentatively. "Well, you know how we were going to wait a little while before having children?"

"Da."

"How does November sound to you?"

Pete blinked.

"Does this... are you... you mean..." he stammered.

Kitty bit her bottom lip and nodded.

"We're going to be parents?" Pete asked.

"Yes, we're going to be parents," Kitty confirmed with a smile on her lips.

Kitty then started in surprise when her normally quiet and subdued husband let out a whoop of joy and started doing a happy dance around the room.

* * *

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Kendall! Happy birthday to you!" sang the crowd.

Kendall stared at the single lit candle in the cake before her.

"Let's blow out the candle now," Storm said, leaning over with her head by Kendall's.

Kendall reached out for the cake and Storm caught her hand before it went in it. Storm blew out the candle (by actually blowing, not using her powers), There was applause and Kendall smiled like she'd just done something good. The cake was removed from Kendall's reach and cut up.

Rogue looked at Kendall with a smile on her face. She looked so much like Storm with the same white hair and blue eyes.

"Cake, chère?" Gambit offered as he stepped over to where she was leaning against the wall.

"Thanks, sugar," Rogue replied, accepting the plate from him.

"A year goes pretty fast, don't it chère?" Gambit mused. "Feels like only yesterday we got the news she was born."

"Yeah," she agreed.

"Well, perhaps not yesterday," he considered. "Maybe a week or two ago."

Rogue giggled.

* * *

Angelica and Sam were watching Tabitha and Tracy dancing on the table at the party being thrown by some of their college friends.

"Do you think it's wise leaving Tracy with Tabby?" Angelica asked. "I mean, she has had a bit to drink tonight and Tabby is... well, you know Tabby."

"Think she might con Tracy into doing something she wouldn't normally do?" Sam inquired.

"Sometimes I just don't think Tabby knows when to quit."

"Probably not. Eh, we'll keep an eye on them and if things start going weird we'll break 'em up and take 'em home. Well, take Tracy home anyway."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room:

"What do you say the odds are of getting a lesbian kiss?" Roberto asked John, pointing his thumb at Tracy and Tabitha.

"Well," John considered seriously. "Tabby has no shame so we have pretty good odds of her ending up topless, but Tracy wouldn't really do anything like that."

"She has been at the vodka though," Roberto observed.

"True. I'd say 50-50."

In another corner of the room:

"Sometimes I really hate Domino," Paige sighed.

"Yeah, why's that?" Danielle asked.

Paige pointed to where their friend was busy kissing a rather good looking guy. "She gets all the hot guys."

Danielle giggled. "Hey, do we know where Jubes is?"

"No idea. She and that Ralph guy she's been seeing got into a fight or something. Haven't seen her since."

Upstairs:

Jubilee pinned Bobby up against the wall in their exchange of sloppy drunken kisses as they made their way down the hall. Bobby's hand found a door knob and he opened it only to be greeted with a "Hey!"

"That room's taken," Bobby said between kisses.

Jubilee didn't reply, she was far too busy doing other things with her mouth. They staggered, bouncing against the wall in the process down to the next door. This bedroom was empty and it was in there that Bobby and Jubilee...made themselves at home.

Later, back at the hub of the party:

"Hey guys," Sam greeted John and Roberto as he and Angelic joined them.

"Hey" John said after a swig of his drink. "See? I knew Tabby would end up topless sooner or later."

"Typical," Angelica muttered.

"Hey Tabby!" Roberto yelled and pointed to Tracy. "Kiss her."

"Don't encourage her," Angelica said, glaring at him.

"Okay!" Tabitha replied merrily.

"Aww man," Sam sighed. "Ange, get Paige for me would you?"

Sam zipped into cannonball mode, rocketed towards Tracy and scooped her up before Tabitha could make her move. Roberto cursed while Tabitha merely laughed and continued dancing. Angelica went off to collect Sam's sister. Paige was not impressed to be told they were going home.

"Note to self," Paige muttered, "never go to a party with Sam again."

* * *

The following morning Jubilee woke up with a groan, rubbing her head. Her eyes opened and she blinked in momentary confusion: this was not her room. She rolled over and her gaze lay on the last person she expected to find in bed with her. She screamed.

"Yah!" Bobby yelled.

This was followed with simultaneous cringes as their mutual hangovers objected to the noise. They stared at each other.

"We didn't..." Bobby said slowly. "Did we?"

"I hope not," Jubilee replied.

There was silence for a moment and then Bobby swore under his breath. Jubilee looked away. They both knew that they did and neither of them wanted to say that aloud. More silence followed.

"This is awkward," Jubilee said finally.

"You think?" Bobby replied.

"We should go."

"Yeah."

Silence.

"You're not getting up," Bobby said

"I think you've seen enough of my naked body for one lifetime," Jubilee replied primly. "Besides, I don't see you getting up."

"Yeah, there's a reason for that."

"Well, we can't stay in bed with each other indefinitely. One of us has to get up, get dressed and get out so the other one can get dressed and get out."

"Fine," Bobby said tersely. "I'll get up, but you close your eyes."

"Right, like I really want to see that."

"Again you mean."

"Shut up."

"You shut up."

* * *

"Hi Jubes," Rogue said, leaning against the railing of the balcony of the staff room besides her friend.

"Hey," Jubilee replied.

"So, something wrong?"

"Nope, everything's just dandy."

"Uh huh."

Jubilee glanced over at Rogue. Rogue just looked out at the view. Jubilee sighed.

"You know the party last night?" Jubilee asked finally.

"What about it?"

"Ralph broke up with me."

"Aww Jubes," Rogue said sympathetically. "I'm so sorry."

"And then I slept with Bobby."

Rogue blinked. "You slept with _Bobby?_"

"Yep."

"Wow. Well, that explains why y'all have been avoiding each other all day."

"Yeah. I have no idea what to do," Jubilee said with a sigh and hung over the railing. "I mean... Bobby for goodness sake. _Bobby_."

"Yeah," Rogue considered. "You did use protection right?"

"I'm on the pill."

"That works."

"Hell, I don't even want to consider getting...that...with _Bobby_. It's Bobby! Argh!"

Rogue giggled.

"It's so not funny," Jubilee objected.

"Bobby's not all that bad."

"Says his ex."

"No really. He is actually quite sweet. Look, give it a couple of days and then try talking to him. You're gonna have to sort this out eventually anyway," Rogue said seriously. "You live together; you can't avoid him forever."

"I can try."

* * *

Come the twenty-first of April and it was Rogue's second seventeenth birthday. Continuing in the tradition, Gambit presented her with a new shirt. It had a picture of a couple of guns, lipstick, cards and a rose with the words "Southern Girl" up the top, and in smaller writing down the bottom: "You're messin' with the Wrong Woman".

"It's so true," Bobby said.

"I kick ass," Rogue agreed. "Thanks Swamp Rat."

"Any time, River Rat," Gambit grinned at her.

"Why do you persist on calling each other rats?" Kitty asked.

"It's a nice break from 'chère' and 'sugar'," Rogue replied. "We can't be all lovey-dovey all the time."

"Lovey-dovey and cutsie-wootsie?" Tabitha giggled.

"It disgusting, isn't it?" Gambit said.

* * *

Rogue looked up from her Joanna Allerdyce book, which she had been reading while on office duty, when the buzzer went off, signalling someone at the gates. She didn't recognise the flame-painted car on the monitor and hit the button for the intercom.

"Hi, can I help you?" she asked.

"That you Rogue?" asked the male voice on the other end.

"John?" Rogue exclaimed.

"I prefer Pyro, if you don't mind," Pyro replied. "Also, I come in peace and all that."

"Okay sugar," Rogue replied. "But I should warn you, I'm gonna have to have security on standby when you come in."

"Ooh big bad Brotherhood on your doorstep," Pyro teased. "Hey, is Colossus there?"

"Making requests huh?"

"Yeppers. Also, I have some with me who wants to meet him."

"You have a passenger?"

"Yep, no one you know though, hence the need for introductions. You gonna let me in or not?"

Rogue chuckled and hit the button for the gate in time with Pyro's "Open Sesame!" She then hit the internal intercom to alert Logan, Storm and Pete that Pyro was on his way in. This done, she watched while Pryo came down the driveway and stop outside the front door.

Rogue got up and opened the front door as Pyro and a blonde girl in her early teens emerged from the car. As they approached, Rogue could see that the girl was covered in coloured tattoos. Rogue was torn between admiring the intricacies and horrified that someone so young would have so many.

"Hey," she greeted.

"Hey," Pyro replied cheerfully. "You haven't changed a bit."

"Actually, I've probably changed more than you realise," Rogue drawled.

"What are you doing here?" Logan's voice demanded from behind.

"Nice to see you too, Wolverine," Pyro replied cheerfully. "I have some information, a message from Magneto and...a favour, if you will. We might wanna go inside and sit down for this one."

"How about we just keep things out here?" Logan asked.

"But I've just been telling Paint how hospitable you all are," Pyro replied. "You wouldn't want to make a liar out of me? I come in peace, take me to your leader, and all that."

"It's okay Logan," Bobby said dangerously from behind. "I can put out any fires he starts."

"I'm a fire-controller, not a fire starter," Pyro corrected, walking up the stairs with his arm around Paint's shoulders. "Duh."

"C'mon guys, let's play nice," Rogue interjected. "Why don't we take this into the office? There's a table, chairs, plenty of drinking water and it means I can sit in on it and make sure y'all don't kill each other."

"I'm with her," Pyro said, grinning.

Logan kept his eyes on Pyro as he and Paint entered the mansion. Paint was wringing her hands nervously, but that didn't stop her from looking around with fascination at the mansion interior. Rogue led them all into the office.

"Where's Pete?" Pyro asked after he sat down.

"He's a little busy," Rogue said. "He'll get here when he's done."

"This better be important," Logan said, sitting across from Pyro.

"You guys familiar with the Stryfe Group?" Pyro asked.

"We may have heard of it," Logan replied.

"Well, they're basically your generic drug company, but on the side they exploit mutants to create their 'speciality' items."

"Sublime Specialities," Rogue said. "Mentis Compesco."

"Yeah," Pyro confirmed and then continued darkly. "That's their best seller. Wanna know how they make it? They have a captive telepath that they harvest for DNA on a daily basis. In fact, the demand is so high they even had her _cloned_ to meet it."

Pyro smirked as he took in the combined horrified reaction of the three in the room.

"They make a stack of other stuff, all made from mutant DNA. Personal force fields, enhanced physical abilities, heck they're even trying to track down someone with a healing factor to create an 'instant cure' line. We," Pyro went on smugly, "have been trying to _rescue_ our exploited brethren and shut them down."

"Jimmy," Rogue said, her eyes wide with realisation. "That's why Worthington Labs was broken into. That's why they came after Jimmy."

"Yeah," Pyro nodded. "They realised they weren't going to get the leech outside of your school, so they had to get someone inside to get to him. There's quite a demand for shutting down mutant powers too. Even if the Cure only lasts a month, it's still a valuable commodity and _you_ let their agent in. _You_ let them harvest his DNA."

"We didn't _let_ him do anything," Logan growled.

"You invited a _flatscan_ into your school," Pyro pointed out. "What the hell did you think was going to happen?"

"We have two 'flatscans'," Bobby said, using his fingers as quotation marks, "in our school that have been working out pretty well and get along fine with everyone. Personally, I think it's nice to see Xavier's dream coming true, even if it's just a little bit at a time."

Pyro was about to reply when Gambit and Pete arrived.

"Colossus!" Pyro exclaimed. "Awesome to see you again, mate. I have someone I want to introduce you to."

"Okay," Pete replied, a little taken aback.

"What's going on?" Gambit asked, slipping his arm about Rogue's waist.

Rogue gave a quick run-down and Pyro gestured for Paint to stand.

"Paint, this is Colossus. Colossus, this is Paint," Pyro said. "I was telling Paint how you're into art and all that jazz and, well, you should see what Paint can do. Hey, Roguey, got some paper?"

Rogue pulled out a sheet of scrap paper and handed it to Pyro, who in turn gave it to Paint and encouraged her not to be shy. Paint held the paper in her hands and a moment later coloured lines spilled forth from her fingers, filled the page and eventually settled into a picture of a sun setting behind a pair of hills. Pete was suitably impressed.

"This is excellent work, Paint," Pete said as he admired the picture.

Paint bit her lip and shuffled her foot shyly.

"Oh," Rogue exclaimed suddenly. "All the tattoos... You made them didn't you?"

Paint nodded.

"They look very cool," Rogue said.

"Thank you," Paint said softly.

"Paint was one of the mutants we rescued from the Stryfe Group," Pyro explained. "We're hoping that you guys wouldn't mind taking her in."

"Of course not," Rogue said quickly before certain hostile people in the room could respond. "She's more than welcome here."

"Which brings me to Magneto's message," Pyro said, his voice turning steel. "Stay out of it. He doesn't care if you don't like his methods, he will bring this mutant exploitation to an end. You're a school, so act like one. Look after the kids and educate them and train them to use their gifts. Leave the outside world to him."

"More DNA harvesting," Logan muttered. "You tell Mags if he needs any help bringing these guys down—"

"Will do," Pyro grinned at him. "See? It wasn't mindless destruction. Awesomely fun destruction, sure, but not mindless. By the way, you may see us on the news a bit more in the months to come. Unless plan on helping us, keep put of it, okay? Pietro's arm is still healing. Don't want to be fighting you _and_ them. Well, actually, hey Iceman, how about a little one on one in the DR?"

"Maybe later."

"Wuss."

"Clown."

"Imbecile."

"Boys, boys," Rogue interrupted. "Is there anything else we should know, Pyro?"

"Let's see, drug company exploiting mutants to make their speciality products, rescuing mutants, trying to take down company without unnecessary conflicts with the X-men who think they're doing a public service, pass on Magneto's message and drop off Paint," Pyro said. "Nope, think that about covers everything. Hey, who's reading Joanna Allerdyce?"

"That would be me," Rogue replied. "Why? She a relation or something?"

Pyro paused and considered her. "I thought I was inside your head?"

"Actually my powers got, uhh a restart," Rogue replied. "I don't have any voices in my head right now."

"Must be peaceful," Pyro replied and then nodded with his head towards Gambit. "You dump the Icecube, Roguey?"

"Yeah, this is Gambit," Rogue replied. "Umm, I don't know if you two met at the fight..."

"Nah I was busy kicking Iceprick's ass."

"You were not," Bobby objected.

"I was the one who did Pietro's arm," Gambit responded coolly.

"Oh you're the one Wanda was pissed at," Pyro replied. "Hey, I thought she said she blinded you?"

"Do I look blind to you?" Gambit replied evenly.

"Hmm, must have been mistaken," Pyro considered, rubbing his chin. "Excellent. This will tick her off again and I love it when she gets angry."

"Why?" Rogue asked, blinking.

"Hottest angry sex ever," Pyro replied nodding eagerly.

"I'm sorry I asked. So, is she?"

"Huh?"

"Joanna Allerdyce, is she a relative or something?"

"Oh yeah, yeah," Pyro nodded. "Ahem. I know her pretty well, actually. You like her books?"

"Sure, they're great," Rogue replied enthusiastically. "I especially love 'The Dark Falls'."

"Really? I like that one too! Erm, I mean, y'know, not that I'm all that interested in gothic romance at all but y'know, like to support my...family. Plus she writes the best erotic scenes," Pyro said with a grin.

"Ah ha," Gambit said smugly to Rogue. "I knew you were reading dirty books."

"Shut it, Swamp Rat," Rogue retorted.

"It never fails to amaze me how the untouchable woman manages to attract so many guys," Pyro teased her. "I should tell Joanna about you. I bet she could come up with all sorts of explanations."

"Nah, I'd probably end up a succubus or a vampire or something," Rogue replied with a smirk.

"That's too easy," Pyro dismissed. "Although, you do fit the role of the femme fatale rather well, and here you're dating a guy with demon eyes, I mean, c'mon, that's got to be a story right there."

"I swear, if a character ever shows up in one of Joanna's stories that sounds at all like me, I'm going to track you down, and kick your ass," Rogue considered. "And then I think I'll ask if Joanna can sign a copy of the book."

Pyro laughed.

"I'll be sure to tell Joanna she has a fan," Pyro teased her. "Hey, she's got another book coming out in July."

"Really? Awesome. I'll be sure to pick up a copy."

"Okay," Logan interrupted. "Is the book club meeting over yet?"

"Well, if it is, then I should be going," Pyro replied. "I've done what I came here to do, so unless Icebaby wants that DR session, I shall bid thee farewell. Paint?"

"Yeah?" Paint asked, looking up at him.

"You will be safe here," he promised her. "Well, as long as they don't hire any more douche bags."

* * *

**AN:** Paint is comic-canon. She only appeared in two issues that I'm aware of "X-treme X-men Xpose" #1 & #2. She was an adult though, not a teenager as she appears in this story, and her abilities were about changing skin tones, but I took some creative license and expanded it so she could paint on paper as well.

Okay, fine, I admit it, I didn't reread the relevant issues before writing the chapter and by the time I did, the chapter was already published. Whoops! My bad. Ahem. Moving right along...

For those interested in her tattoos, you can see them at www DOT deeperinsanity DOT info /paint/paint DOT html


	53. Seeing Magenta

**Chapter 52: Seeing Magenta**

Gambit walked out of the danger room and wiped the sweat from his brow. As he headed down the hallway he thought he heard a bang behind him. He paused, and turned around to see that the door handle to the girls change room was no more. Weird. If he didn't know better he'd say he charged it, but he had to touch things in order to charge them and he hadn't touched that at all.

Gambit scratched his head as he walked back and inspected the damage. It would need to be replaced. He shrugged and continued back to his room. He'd shower, change and then come back to take care of it.

* * *

"You wanted to see me?" Emma said as she walked into the med lab.

"Ahh, yes Emma," Hank greeted her. "I believe you are aware of Pyro's recent visit to Xavier's?"

"Yes, of course," Emma replied as she join him at the desk. "What about it?"

"Pyro informed us that their speciality products were based off mutant DNA. As we already had a sample of the Mentis Compesco, I took the liberty of testing it for that DNA sample, which I was able to find. Emma," Hank said seriously, "I was very surprised to find that we had a partial match in the database. You."

"What do you mean a partial match?" Emma questioned.

"The DNA strand I found shares enough common attributes with your DNA, to lead me to believe that the mutant being harvested is a relative," Hank told her, "perhaps a sibling with identical powers?"

"No," Emma shook her head. "My sister—half sister, to be technical—was capable of tactile hypnosis. She died twenty years ago. Could the DNA sample match another relative, say perhaps, that of a child?"

"Yes, of course, that was actually my first thought, but I wasn't aware you ever had children," Hank replied.

"_I_ haven't," Emma answered tersely. "But when Stryker took mutants in, they first went through 'processing', where all sorts of samples were taken, including ova or sperm as the case may be."

"Ahh."

"When Remy escaped, he made sure to destroy the DNA lab on his way out, which served a dual purpose of both destroying the samples of him, and providing a distraction. Of course, that meant the rest of us had to go through processing for a second time," Emma said darkly. "What they did with the samples I do not know, but this recent...find of yours suggests that at least some of the samples survived the destruction, whether they are the first or the second... batch."

"I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news," Hank said quietly.

"Not at all Hank," Emma dismissed. "I was trapped down there for years with all too much exposure to the more technical details of what they were doing to us. I have been aware of this possibility for years. I have also suspected that the Mentis Compesco was a result of experimentation on me although..."

"Yes?"

"To my knowledge, Stryker was never aware of my telepathic abilities," Emma said wryly. "He was always far more interested in my secondary mutation. However, if I do have...a child...clone children, according to Pyro, they may not have been aware of my telepathic abilities until they manifested in...my offspring. Let's see: They'd be twenty at the very least by now, and Mentis Compesco has only been around for the last four years or so. If we assume my child manifested at the same age I did, it is feasible, especially if they had already been experimenting with imprinting mutant abilities temporarily on others."

"It does make one wonder, however, if they already knew how to do it, why go after Worthington Labs?" Hank considered.

"Perhaps one of the scientists previously worked for Stryfe?" Emma suggested. "Although they hardly strike me as the time to just let valuable information slip through their fingers."

"I would agree. However, it's also likely that Styfe's procedure and Worthington's were different. Worthington did also explore the possibility of finding a way to make the Cure without requiring Jimmy. That would no doubt be of value to Stryfe. Then too, Worthington would also have access to information about Jimmy."

"A valuable commodity in itself," Emma said dryly and was interrupted from saying more by a beep which sent Hank tapping away at the computer. "What is it?"

"I've been getting strange readings from Gambit's power monitor," Hank replied, paused and pulled up a certain screen, to which he pointed. "See that flare, right there? They've been happening at increasing intervals. Perhaps you may be able to find out. You see, they appear to be psionic in nature and he has flares just like them right after he releases a charge, only this time there's been no transfer of kinetic energy beforehand. Observe."

Hank pulled up another screen.

"You see the red here? That's the kinetic energy in his system. That yellow area indicates a transfer and that flare just a moment after the transfer occurs I believe is what causes the charge to explode," Hank explained. "I have compared it to one of his sessions in the danger room to confirm the phenomenon. However, I have been unable to find the meaning of a flare with no transference."

Emma nodded slowly.

"Has anyone thought to tell you about Remy's secondary mutation?" she asked.

"Yes," Hank replied and changed to another screen. "Storm informed me when the subject of monitoring Remy's mutation activity first came up. His 'hypnotic charm' operates on a different psionic frequency and this is it. As you can see there is a constant element combined with occasional spikes. These spikes occurred frequently when I first began monitoring, but have been few and far between since... mid-February."

"Interesting," Emma considered. "Remy has a constant, low-level psionic field around his mind which grants him mind sensitivity, and when his charm is activated he sends out pulses. I imagine those spikes measure those pulses. Unfortunately, he has no way of knowing _when_ he is using this power unless he sets out to do so deliberately. Do you suppose it would be possible to ring his watch to send him an alert? It may prove to be a valuable tool for him."

"You'd have to talk to Forge, but I believe it may be possible," Hank replied.

"As for the other matter, I will look into it further next time I get into Remy's head. Unfortunately, at the speed at which he generates energy my investigations have to quick or I have a difficult time trying to get out again," Emma paused briefly, catching a stray thought from Hank. "Is there something I should know, Hank?"

Hank hesitated, and finally pulled up a graph on the screen.

"Remy has to sleep," Hank said. "It's true that he only requires four hours, but his body still needs to rest just like everyone else, with the known exception of Jones."

"Whom we haven't yet managed to explain yet," Emma observed.

"Indeed. Now, as Remy uses up very little energy during his sleep—so little it barely registers—his powers levels peak shortly before he wakes up. We began monitoring him in January, as you know and this is where his peak levels were falling. Four months later and they're up here. Now, I know that the incline doesn't appear to be much—"

"They've risen that much after only four mouths?" Emma exclaimed, cutting Hank off. "That's obscene."

Hank sighed, relieved he was talking to someone who could appreciate what they were seeing (or alternatively, reading his thoughts on the matter, but the end was the same).

"Indeed," Hank said gravely and pressed a few more buttons, pulling up a larger graph that exchanged the black line for a red one after today's date. "According to my projections, based on Remy's current progression and the average rate of progression for mutant development, this will be his power level by the time he hits 25."

Emma spread her hands and frowned at the screen. "Where'd the red line go? It disappears off the screen at 22—oh! You can't be serious!"

"I'm afraid so," Hank replied. "Even if it turns out he's going through a rapid growth spurt at the moment, his power levels will still go off the charts by 24."

"Class five?" Emma said, catching another stray thought. "Remy LeBeau is a _class five_ mutant?"

Hank let out a long, slow breath.

"Yes, Emma," he confirmed. "My readings indicate that Remy is indeed capable of class five power levels, although it will be a few years before he technically reaches that point. Which makes it all the more imperative that he gains control."

"Well we certainly don't want a repeat of Alcatraz," Emma muttered. "These flares you mentioned, have they ever happened in the danger room?"

"Now that you ask the question, I don't know," Hank replied slowly. "I did set the alarm to let me know when a flare lacking a preceding transfer occurred, but I'm not usually in here when Remy does his more intense sessions in the danger room. His session during the day is while I'm teaching. Additionally, with all the transference that occurs in there, finding these particular flares would be much like looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Still it does bear further investigation."

"I'll let you know what I find out on my end," Emma said. "But in the meantime, I suggest we never speak the words 'class five' anywhere near Remy. His ego is quite big enough as it is."

* * *

Rogue was reading in bed when something heavy pounced on her. Someone rather, and she knew it was a pouncing because the pouncer felt the need to shout "Pounce!" while his arms and legs landed either side of her body.

"Yah!" Rogue yelled in surprise.

Gambit laughed lightly and Rogue lifted her head back to look at him.

"You just couldn't help yourself, could you?" she asked disgustedly.

"Non," he replied with a grin. "Whatcha reading? Dirty magazines?"

"Motorcycle magazine," Rogue corrected. "And it's only dirty if you're—ahem, if the _reader_—is attracted to scantily clad women straddling motorcycles. Or if you're sexually attracted to motorcycles."

Gambit laughed.

"You know me far too well," he said as he finally rolled off her.

"Sad, isn't it?" she replied and winked at him.

Gambit propped himself up on his elbow and used his free hand to trace patterns on Rogue's back through the sheets. He made sure to steer clear of her shoulders and arms which were bare and exposed.

"By the way," Rogue went on, "did you at least lock my bedroom door again after you picked it?"

"Oui," he grinned at her. "No one gets to see naked Roguey 'cept me."

"Ha, you're lucky you're getting to see this much of my skin right now, Swamp Rat," Rogue retorted.

"You can run but you can't hide," Gambit joked. "Ahh, Roguey, the things I plan on doing with you when you get your powers under control."

Rogue snickered, set her magazine aside and turned to look at him.

"Speaking of which," Gambit went on, his fingers moving to her waist by default, "how are things going on that end? Does it look like Emma's theory about David's psyche is correct yet?"

"Uh huh," Rogue replied with a nod. "Emma says that part of my mind has grown beyond the bounds Professor Xavier saw. She wants me to ride out the rest of the growth spurt before we start experimenting."

"Any idea how long that'll take?"

Rogue sighed.

"Chère?" Gambit questioned.

"Emma... Emma doesn't want me to start experimenting until next year."

"Oh."

"I mean, I've gone years without touching people before right?" Rogue said. "I should be able to manage another one, y'know, especially if it means I'll be able to continue touching people."

There was silence for a moment.

"This year's almost half over," Gambit commented.

"Yeah," Rogue giggled. "And the second half of the year always feels like it goes faster than the first half."

"Absolument," he agreed cheerfully.

He sat up and for just a moment his eyes flickered towards Rogue's magazine as he resettled himself on the bed. He didn't have a chance of getting both his hands on Rogue (through the bed covers, of course) before there was a bang.

"Hell!" Rogue exclaimed, grabbing hold of her magazine and attempting to get the small signs of fire out before it had a chance to spread. "Remy!"

"I never touched it!" Gambit objected, throwing his hands up in the air. "I just looked at it."

Rogue and Gambit looked at each other.

"Merde," Gambit hissed.

"I, uhh, guess I know what you'll be doing in the DR tonight," Rogue said tentatively.

Gambit buried his face in his hands.

"I don't need this," he muttered. "I should have figured it out earlier. I've been fixing things that have 'mysteriously' broken when I've walked past. But nooo I couldn't be responsible 'cause I didn't touch the stupid things."

"Well—not to sound like I'm picking on you, 'cause I'm not—but didn't you feel the charge?" Rogue asked, then answered her own question: "What am I saying? All the times you've slipped you haven't felt it."

"The charge is too light," Gambit said in annoyance as he looked up. "It's like taking a drop of water out of the ocean."

Rogue tried not to wince when she heard another bang behind her. Gambit growled in frustration.

"Désolé," he said shortly as he got up off the bed. "I'll pay for that, and I'll get you a new magazine too. Latest issue?"

"Yeah," Rogue confirmed and then added as Gambit approached her door: "Remy?"

"Oui?" he asked with his hand on the door knob.

"You're going to get this," she told him firmly. "Whatever happens, you're going to get control, and I'm going to be there with you every step of the way."

Gambit smiled, hearing his own words being repeated back to him.

"I love you too, Roguey."

* * *

"Computer:" Gambit said once in the danger room, "Run program Disc Flight, level...one."

The room shifted only slightly and a single disc appeared. It flew around the room casually. Gambit looked at it, there was a brief flash of magenta light, and then it exploded.

"Computer: Increase to level deux."

Five discs appeared in the air, flying around slightly faster than before. Gambit only had to look at each on in turn for them to explode. The targets were small enough that the only reason why he noticed the use of energy was because he was feeling out for it.

"Computer: Increase to level cinq."

Gambit wasn't sure how many of the discs were in the air, and they were all flying around a lot faster. He turned on his heel and blew up almost all of them in one simple rotation. As he was picking off the stragglers, he heard the intercom crackle.

"Remy? Are you by chance in the danger room?" came Hank's voice.

"Oui, Hank," Gambit replied. "What can I do for you?"

"I've been getting some strange readings from your watch," Hank reported. "May I ask what it is you're doing?"

"I'm blowing stuff up," he responded, paused and finally added ruefully: "Just by looking at it."

There was a moment's pause, then "I see."

"Do we have anything better than this 'Disc Flight' program?" Gambit asked. "I feel like I'm the world champion weight lifter trying to do a workout with peas."

"Ahh, so there's minimal energy transference then?" Hank asked, almost sounding excited.

"You could say that," Gambit confirmed.

"That explains things then. We've been recording a number of instances where there was the psionic trigger indicting something had exploded, but no energy transference had been registered. If the amount of energy you're using is less than the amount of energy you're generating at that moment, then it may not pick up on it."

"I'm sure that's fascinating, Hank."

"Oh right. Larger targets then?"

"Oui."

"Hmm, I believe Scott once programmed 'Space Invaders'," Hank replied. "Alternatively—"

"The danger room can convert computer games?" Gambit queried. "Awesome. Computer: Stop current program and run Space Invaders."

"Identify level," said the computer.

"Oh I don't know. Level...cinq for starters."

Gambit grinned as Space Invader style goons appeared in all directions on the ground. They were much larger than the pathetic little discs and Gambit rubbed his hands together eagerly.

"Five..." said the computer.

"Oh fun, countdown," Gambit said gleefully.

"Four... Three..."

"I'll keep monitoring, if you don't mind?" Hank asked.

"Two..."

"Yeah, yeah, sure, sure," Gambit replied.

"One..."

The invaders began to move. Gambit started picking off the invaders, doing a 360 to take out the first row and then another 360 in the next direction to take out the next.

In the med lab, Hank watched with interest as multiple flares appeared on the readouts right on top of each other. Trying to match the flares with the transference notes was pretty much impossible for the same reason. He pressed a couple of buttons and pulled up the video footage of Gambit's current session so he could watch that as well.

"Computer: Increase to level seven," Gambit said.

Hank watched as two more bands of invaders appeared, these ones suspended in the air.

"Cool," Gambit said.

Later Hank would replay parts of the danger room session on slow because Gambit only had to glance at an Invader for a second for it to explode. At that, he seemed capable of blowing up multiple targets at once, each explosion triggering another flare. The readout on Gambit's energy levels started to creep down.

"Computer: Increase to level ten."

"Are you sure that's wise, Remy?" Hank asked.

"Oui," Gambit replied cheerfully. "Otherwise I'm going to be in here all night."

On level ten, the room was full with two layers of invaders in every direction, moving towards Gambit at high speed. Hank didn't even bother looking at the readouts any more; he was far too busy trying to make Gambit out within a fog of magenta and two layers of space invaders.

Hank checked the clock, knowing that the speed would only increase and continued to increase until Gambit stopped it, or one of the space invaders finally touched him. New invaders started entering the scene, faster and faster until they were nothing but a blur. Just when Hank was thinking the invaders didn't stand a chance:

"Game Over," announced the computer and read out Gambit's final score.

Hank listened to Gambit cheering when he was done.

"Okay," Gambit said. "That was awesome! Not nearly as satisfactory as doing it physically, but still fun!"

Hank chuckled, partly in amusement, partly in nervousness.

"Okay, well then," Gambit went on. "I guess I'd better start the real work out. Hanging around Hank?"

"As tempted as I am to say 'yes', I was on my way out when my alarm alerted me to your activity," Hank replied. "And now that I can explain that, I can disable that alert."

Gambit chuckled.

"I'm definitely going to have to play Space Invaders again," he decided. "I wonder if I can beat my high score?"


	54. And So It Begins

**AN:** XOXheartAmy wanted Remy to make a 'body condom' comment.

New characters appearing in this chapter: Rusty and Sally are both comic-canon. Flea is movie-canon - he's the kid in X2 that Pete shows his cartoon of Rogue and Bobby kissing to. Wikipedia is my friend.

Because there's been some inquiry: In the comicverse at full power Remy is "Omega class" or what they're calling "class five" in the movieverse. Remy went to Sinister to be downgraded when he couldn't control his abilities. As the movieverse decided that Remy spent two years being experimented on by Stryker, I decided to skip the Sinister thing and with it, cut out the whole Morlock Massacre issue, which is a little difficult to keep in the movieverse anyway seeing as how Leech and the character they named Callisto were both morlocks and Arclight was a marauder - yet they had Callisto and Arclight on the same side. Go figure.

* * *

**Chapter 53: And So It Begins  
**

Kendall toddled into the dining hall while pushing a toy in front of her that played a melody as the roller rotated over the ground. Storm was not far behind.

"Kendall, dear," Storm said. "Time to put the toy down and have breakfast."

"No," Kendall replied.

"She's a little too fond of that word, if you ask me," Logan muttered.

"Yes," Storm said firmly to her daughter and deftly removed the handle from Kendall's grip so she could lift her into her high chair.

Kendall immediately leaned over the high chair, reaching for her toy. Fortunately, she was distracted from tears by food.

Meanwhile, at the next table over, Kitty was delightedly telling everyone how the baby kicked her last night.

"That wasn't very polite," Gambit joked. "You need to teach that baby some manners."

"Oh shush you," Kitty dismissed him.

"Remy had an exciting night last night too," Rogue said with a smirk. "Just how did it go in the DR anyway?"

"Hank told me that Scott turned Space Invaders into a sim and—" Gambit began eagerly.

"_Scott_ played Space Invaders?" Bobby asked. "Scott? Seriously? Wow, and here I was thinking ol' stick-up-the-ass didn't know how to have fun."

"I think he used it as a training exercise," Gambit replied.

"Oh, well that explains it then," Bobby snickered.

"I beat his high score," Gambit went on smugly, "by about six million. Twice, 'cause I played it again this morning. It was glorious."

"And just how were you taking down the invaders?" Rogue asked knowingly. "Cards or eyes?"

"Eyes," Gambit replied. "Now, if I can just stop blowing things up without meaning to, I'll be happy."

"Are you slipping again?" Jubilee asked. "And what do you mean you used your eyes?"

Gambit was about to reply, when he had a better idea. He glanced at Bobby's bowl of cereal and blew up one of the flakes. Bobby yelped as half his breakfast splashed on him and the table. Gambit snickered.

"Dude!" Jubilee exclaimed. "That's cool."

"That's insane," Bobby said, shaking his head. "Also, don't do that again."

"It's nice to see you're a lot happier about it this morning," Rogue said to Gambit.

"I was won over by Space Invaders," Gambit joked. "I may become an addict."

Rogue giggled.

"So, have you been blowing stuff up just by looking accident by accident then?" Kitty asked.

"Oui," Gambit replied solemnly. "But knowing's half the battle right?"

"Right," Kitty agreed.

"And speaking of knowing things," Gambit went on cheerfully, looking between Jubilee and Bobby. "Roguey and I were hoping you two might join us for a night out."

"We were?" Rogue asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Gambit said mischievously. "Like a double date."

Bobby choked on his breakfast. Jubilee shot Rogue an alarmed look and Rogue shook her head slightly in response.

"I did not think you two were dating," Pete said with a frown.

"Oh, no we're not," Jubilee said hurriedly. "I mean, why would I want to date Bobby? Besides, just broke up with Ralph, okay, so not interested in dating again right now."

"Actually I've always thought you two would make a cute couple," Kitty said. "But yeah, that was... How long ago was that?"

"Three weeks, give or take," Jubilee replied. "So, uhh, I don't really think it counts as a double date if one couple isn't even dating."

Gambit just smirked in reply. He was tempted to say something about drunken sex and see what reaction he got, but their nervy responses so far was enough confirmation for him. He'd been suspicious about their behaviour towards each other ever since he'd seen them arrive home from the party.

* * *

"Well," Jubilee said later at the gazebo, "Rogue insists she never told Remy anything."

"I can't believe you told Rogue in the first place," Bobby replied crossly with his arms folded across his chest.

"Hey, I'm a girl," Jubilee snapped, pointing a finger at him. "Girls talk about these things. I'd just broken up with my boyfriend and slept with you all in the same night! I had to talk to someone!"

"Whatever, all I know is that we had Remy asking us to go on a double date. I didn't tell him, so if you didn't and Rogue didn't, who did? He wasn't even at the party," Bobby replied.

"Well, I don't know. Do I look like a freaking telepath to you?" Jubilee demanded. "Okay, and for that matter, Sam was there, and Angelica, and Roberto, and Tabby, and who the hell knows who else was at the freaking party. For all we know everyone at the school knows."

"And you would know all about spreading gossip," Bobby retorted.

"What do you care anyway? You've gone through more girlfriends than Remy goes through playing cards," Jubilee said disgustedly, glaring at him.

"Not that many—"

"I'm surprised anyone even falls for you."

"And I'm surprised Ralph put up with you for as long as he did."

"Yeah? Well, I'm surprised that Rogue dated you for two years," Jubilee retorted sharply. "Oh wait, no I'm not. She must have been desperate, what with the whole 'no touching' thing."

"Screw you."

"You already have. Hell, I'm surprised you haven't been blabbing."

"What, is that what you take me for?" Bobby demanded. "Drunken mistake or not, I wouldn't do that to you. I can't believe I even have to spell that out to you. Geez, fine I admit I've had a few girlfriends, but that doesn't automatically make me an 'another notch on the belt' guy. And hey, why am I even defending myself in the first place? As I recall you came to me."

"Hey, my boyfriend just dumped me," Jubilee practically screamed at him, "for another _guy_. Seriously, how am I supposed to react to that, Bobby? Another guy. My ex-boyfriend decided during some point in our relationship that he was gay. How the freaking hell am I supposed to respond to that? Was it me? Is it something I did? Am I not woman enough or something? I—"

Jubilee had to cut herself off then and looked away from Bobby, not wanting him to see the tears welling up in her eyes.

"Actually, I'm guessing you probably weren't _man _enough," Bobby replied mildly. "Personally, I think that's a good thing. I like you way better as a woman."

There was an odd sort of silence, and then Jubilee finally said: "Thank you, Bobby."

"Hey, uhh," Bobby said, a little uncomfortably, "what else are friends for?"

"Is that what we are?" Jubilee asked, still not looking at him. "Y'know, even thought we slept together?"

Bobby sighed and sat down on the edge of the table.

"I don't know," he admitted. "I've been trying to figure how what I think of this whole thing for weeks and I just don't have any answers, Jubes. We've been friends for, what? Seven or eight years? And okay, I'll admit I might have had a bit of a crush on you in the beginning but, I thought I was past that and then this happened—and damn, Jubes, I'm sorry. I know we were both drunk and all, but I guess I'm kinda disappointed to think I didn't have some self control. Not that I didn't want to sleep with you, I mean, not that I wouldn't ever be interested, not that I'm saying that I am or that there's any reason why I wouldn't want to sleep with you, I mean you are a very attractive woman and everything but that doesn't necessarily mean that I, umm... and I'm just digging myself into a hole here."

Jubilee laughed softly and finally turned back to face him.

"I get what you're saying," she said. "That night was not a night we would have slept together if we were sober."

"Right. It would have been completely inappropriate."

"Absolutely, I mean, who breaks up with someone and immediately sleeps with someone else? Sober, that is."

"Exactly. It's crass and stuff."

"Yeah, so, we should probably just forget the whole thing," Jubilee said with a nod.

"Sure, just put everything behind us," Bobby agreed.

There was silence as they looked at each other. Jubilee chewed her bottom lip as Bobby got up off the table, but once their eyes met again it only too a moment before their lips were meeting as well.

* * *

In its usual fashion, the end of the school year arrived quickly and half the population of Xaviers departed for home or other locations for the summer break. With Kitty expecting, she and Pete decided to stay at home this year. Betsy accepted another modelling job much to the delight of her agent and once again, Warren opted to go with her (for the scenery). Sam, Angelica and Paige headed to the Guthrie farm in Kentucky.

John and James Proudmoore headed home as always, Tracy flew back to Ireland so spend time with her family there. Danielle Moonstar and Doug Ramsey also returned to their respective homes.

Jubilee, Bobby, Roberto, Forge and Domino all remained at Xaviers, as did three of the five new graduated who had opted to stay on: Rusty Collins; Sally Blevins, aka Skids; and Julio Richter, aka Rictor. Of the other two graduates, Rahne Sinclair (aka Wolfsbane) had returned to Scotland to visit Moira MacTaggert, and Julian Keller (aka Hellion) had gone home.

Flea, who would be in year twelve when the new school year started, was one of the ones who departed for home. He never made it. Instead Xavier's got a frantic call from his parents, wanting to make sure he had actually left and he wasn't still at the school and hadn't told them. Upon finding out of his abrupt disappearance, Emma made use of Cerebro to find Flea, but although she looked every day, she didn't catch so much of a blip.

"There could be any number of reasons for that," Emma told the others. "He could be shielded or moving around too much for me to pin point him properly. He might also be dead."

"Emma," Storm frowned.

"That third one isn't our preferred option, I'll grant you," Emma replied tersely. "But it is a fact, and may well be preferable to the 'shielded' option. After all, Flea doesn't have a natural shield or anything of that ilk, which would suggest he's being held against his will."

"By Stryfe, you mean," Logan said.

"It is a possibility."

"Can you find the Brotherhood at all?" Storm asked.

"Possibly," Emma confirmed. "Given that Magneto knows how to shield himself from Cerebro and other telepathic intrusion, it's likely his base of operations will not be easy to find."

"They have to come out sometime," Storm pointed out. "And if Flea has been abducted by Stryfe, they may be our best chance of finding him."

* * *

Rogue was a little surprised to find a box in her pigeon hole after the mail got sorted that day.

"Huh," Rogue mused as she looked it over. "Wasn't expecting anything."

"No return address either," Gambit observed as he leaned on the table beside her.

Rogue shrugged, ripped off the tape and opened it up. Inside was a book.

"Oh wow!" she exclaimed as she pulled it out. "This is Joanna Allerdyce's latest. It doesn't even hit the shelves until next week."

"Ahh... Pyro must have sent it to you then," Gambit said evenly.

"Yeah, that probably explains why there's no return address," Rogue said and opened up the book. "Omigod! It's autographed! Remy! He got it autographed for me!"

"Dear Roguey," Gambit read over her shoulder. "Love J Allerdyce. Hmph, probably signed it himself."

Rogue giggled.

"Now why would he do that, silly?" she asked. "He went to all the trouble of getting me an advanced copy in the first place, why not get it signed by the author at the same time? Eee, this is so exciting."

Bang!

"Désolé," Gambit said as the tape went up in smoke.

"Hmm," Rogue teased him as she put her new book behind her back. "I think I'll just take this book out of your line of sight."

"Shame he didn't leave a return address," Gambit said evenly. "I know Emma's been trying to track them down."

Rogue turned the box over and shrugged.

"It's been post marked Mississippi," Rogue said. "So I guess they're either there, or Pyro's just being a smart ass. Or maybe Joanna sent it and that's where she lives. I'm going with the smart ass option though."

* * *

Pete rotated his neck and shoulders, giving them a good stretch and put his paintbrush down. He often liked to spend time in the spacious, well lit art room and work on his latest project. It wasn't uncommon for other residents of Xaviers to join him in their off hours either. The art room was one of the few classrooms that anyone could go into at any time, although the more expensive materials and equipment were locked away pending appropriate supervision or authority.

Today, however, there was only one other person in the art room with him; the new arrival, Paint. As Pete cleaned up, he happened to glance at where Paint was hunched over the table. In fact, she was leaning so far over her head was touching the tabletop.

"Paint?" Pete inquired gently, walking over to her. "Paint?"

She didn't stir until Pete put his hand on her shoulder and spoke her name again. She mumbled and sat up, looking bleary-eyed.

"Are you all right?" Pete asked.

"Oh, umm, fine," she mumbled. "Just a bit tired."

"Hmm," Pete considered, moving his hand to her forehead. "You feel a bit warm to me. Are you certain you're okay?"

"I thought it was just hot in here," Paint replied sleepily.

"Perhaps you should go back to your room and get some sleep. I can have Ev- Nurse Pare check up on you, if you would like?"

"'Kay."

Pete escorted Paint back to her room, just to be on the safe side, then gave Evelyn a call to let her know that she was feverish.

* * *

Two days later, Storm looked through the window into Paint's room in the med lab.

"Is it contagious?" Storm asked.

"At this stage I can't be certain," Hank replied. "I need more time to investigate."

Storm nodded.

"Well, for something that attacks the mutant x-gene, I need to know before it's time for school to go back," Storm said firmly. "There's no point in bringing the kids back if they're just going to get sick here."

"If it is contagious, depending on where the infectious period lies, they may already be affected," Hank replied gravely.

Storm pursed her lips together.

"Just how bad is it?" she asked finally.

Hank spread his hands.

"At this point, I have no reason to believe she won't make a full recovery. I am only isolating her at this time because of the effect it's having on her x-gene, and Evelyn—as she hasn't got the gene—will be attending her physically instead of myself to cut down on chances of further infection. That said, I would like for it to be made clear to everyone that if they start feeling any of the symptoms, to see myself or Evelyn immediately."

"Which are?"

"Headache, drowsiness, sore throat, cough," Hank sighed. "Any number of those things could be caused by things other than this... virus... but in this case I would prefer to check everyone and for everyone to be fine, than not to and for it to be too late."

"Of course," Storm replied with a nod.

"I will also speak to Forge and see how he's going on those power dampeners," Hank added.

"Do you think they'll be necessary?" Storm asked cautiously.

"As I said, it's attacking the x-gene," Hank replied. "I'd rather not take any chances."

* * *

Gambit looked at Rogue as she stepped out of the bedroom, dressed up from head to toe in her wetsuit, complete with custom made feet and gloves.

"Body condom?" he asked jokingly.

"Very funny, Swamp Rat," Rogue retorted. "We going swimming or not?"

"Oh we're going swimming all right," Gambit replied cheerfully as he slipped his arm around her waist.

It was quite late, but Rogue had been uncomfortable with the idea of swimming during the day while the pool was crowded. The wetsuit covered every part of her skin, bar her face, and in the pool she felt that the odds of getting a hand in the face or something were much higher than in other activities. Reluctantly she had declined all invitations to join them in the pool, of which there were few once everyone figured out why she was declining. Gambit, however, felt that Rogue shouldn't miss out completely, and had finally persuaded her to join him for a late night swim with no one else around.

"So, Roguey," Gambit said as they approached the pool. "Are you actually wearing anything under that?"

"Yeah," Rogue replied jokingly. "I'm wearing a shirt that says 'I'm naked under my wetsuit'."

Gambit laughed and dropped his towel on one of the pool chairs.

"I need to get Forge to program me a funny shirt for my image inducer," he said. "I want it to say 'I'm naked under my image inducer'."

Rogue giggled as she put down her own towel.

"Just to wear around Logan, of course," Gambit went on cheerfully. "Watch him cringe. I think I'd wait until Tabby was out of the room though. She's likely to check to see if it's true."

"Probably," Rogue agreed, sitting on the edge of the pool and dangling her feet into the water.

She pushed off the side and Gambit soon joined her. The two swam around aimlessly, splashing each other, occasionally swimming laps or getting out just so they could jump back in again.

Gambit swam up from behind and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her covered shoulder and Rogue tilted her head away to avoid contact, covering her neck with her other hand to make sure.

"I miss you," he said softly.

"How can you miss me?" Rogue replied. "You see me every day."

"I miss kissing you—"

"You kissed me just then."

"I miss holding you."

"You're holding me now."

"I miss having you in my bed."

Rogue was silent.

"I miss touching your cheek," Gambit went on. "I miss holding your hand. I miss playing tonsil hockey."

Rogue giggled for a moment.

"I miss all that too," she said quietly. "It's not easy for me either."

"I know."

"It's not going to be forever."

"Feels like it."

"Yeah," Rogue replied ruefully. "I know what you mean."


	55. Keep My Eyes on the Clouds?

**AN:**

mysedai wanted Remy to get the "bomb squad" shirt, which I really could kick myself for nothing thinking of first, seeing as how I actually have that shirt, hahaha.

rogueslove22 was surprised that Remy never made a nurse comment to Rogue while he was blind.

I _love_ the plane scene in XO: Wolverine. Seriously, I will put the movie on just to fast forward to that scene and watch it over and over and over. It makes me laugh. And I'm weird. But it's the best part of the whole movie! Remy ragging on Logan! C'mon! The only way they can beat that is with a Romy scene, hahaha.

* * *

**Chapter 54: ****Keep My Eyes on the Clouds?**

"Moira MacTaggert," Hank greeted pleasantly, if tiredly. "I was actually just about to call you. To what do I owe the honour?"

"Bad news I'm afraid," Moira replied. "I thought I should inform you that both Rahne and Tracy have come down with some sort of virus that attacks the x-gene."

"Ahh, yes, we've been seeing that here too. It's why I was going to call, in fact," Hank told her seriously. "We had our first case last month in one of our new students. She had been held captive by people who were experimenting on and exploiting mutants, although we're not entirely certain what exactly they did to her. She seems to only have contracted a mild case of what we're calling the 'Legacy virus' and has recovered, but it seems to have mutated since her arrival and everyone else who's contracted it so far are having a much more difficult time of it."

"Oh my," Moira said. "I have Rahne and Tracy isolated—Sean brought Tracy over when she fell ill—but I'll be sure to see to it that Sean is isolated as well, just to be sure."

"Probably wise," Hank agreed. "We've already sent notice out to the students who went home to advise them of the situation. Actually, while we're on the subject, you may want to check on security. A number of the families we call reported that their children had gone missing. In fact, the five oldest Guthrie children have all been abducted."

"Five oldest?" Moira repeated. "Just how many are there?"

"Ten," Hank replied. "And all five missing are mutants, although as far as we know their parents are not. Two of them have graduated, another two were going to be starting this year and the fifth had declined the invitation to study here. Emma's been trying to find the missing students, but aside from having no luck in either finding them or the Brotherhood, she's also come down sick. We suspect the Brotherhood may have also come down with it. Shall I advise any of our European people to go to your facility if they run into any problems?"

Moira considered.

"Aye, you may as well," she said. "I do have the space to isolate those with the Legacy virus from my other patients, and once we've figured out how to deal with this thing, it will be more convenient."

"My thought exactly," Hank agreed. "I'm sending you what I have on the Legacy virus so far. Moira...it is likely that I too, have been infected."

"Aye."

"In which case, you may hear further reports from my nurse, Evelyn Pare. Evelyn has been good enough to try and contact some of her human colleagues in an attempt to secure medical assistance, and one of our teachers, Trey McGraw, has been talking to the neighbours to see if we can get any volunteers to help. I'm afraid that the sick are quickly outnumbering the healthy."

"Are we certain humans can't contract it?"

"Given the Legacy virus attacks the x-gene, I find it unlikely they will be adversely affected by it."

"Point taken."

"Oh, and Moira? I should warn you," Hank went on. "The Legacy virus can cause powers to go out of control. Forge designed some power dampeners, but we don't have very many of them. He's in the process of making more but... Well, right now we're restricting them to mutants whose powers are dangerous when they go out of control."

* * *

"Dampening field, now," Evelyn ordered.

Logan didn't waste any time, only got the six months pregnant Kitty into the ward as quickly as possible. This was easier said than done, given that Kitty was intermittently phasing. Fortunately, as soon as they entered the field of effect, Kitty stayed solid and Logan managed to find a bed for her.

"Thank you," Evelyn said as she checked Kitty over. "I know it's getting crowded in here, and Kitty wouldn't necessarily be a priority for the power dampeners, but she _is_ pregnant, and I don't want to take any risks with the baby."

"No, of course not," Logan replied and glanced over at Storm in the next bed over. "How's Kendall?"

Evelyn looked up at the anxious father, knowing exactly how he felt. Squidboy was sick as well. Kendall hadn't shown any symptoms, but she had been moved to the custody of Evelyn and Trey just in case the toddler had managed to escape being infected.

"She's doing fine, just fine," Evelyn assured him, as she had for the fourth time that day.

"I'll go see how Forge is doing with those additional power dampeners," Logan said with a nod.

Logan made his way to Forge's lab where he found Betsy hunched over one of the many power dampeners Forge had been working on. He glanced around for the inventing mutant and discovered him stretched out on the bed in the adjoining room. Forge practically lived in his lab.

"Betsy?" Logan inquired.

"Forge is sick," Betsy replied tersely. "I'm attempting to continue work on the dampeners using the information from his mind."

"Ahh. How's that going for you?"

"Not well, and I have no idea if it's because I'm not technical or if Forge just designs things so that only he can understand. I'm sorry, Logan, I don't mean to be rude, but I am trying to concentrate here."

"Yeah, of course," Logan replied. "Give us a yell if you need anything."

* * *

Rogue was overwhelmed with the response from the local community. Between Trey talking to the neighbours and Kurt (who was so far unaffected) talking to their church congregation, Xaviers was full of people wanting to help. If they weren't helping to attend the sick, then they were cooking or bringing over meals and helping to clean.

The number of sick now outdid the number of healthy mutants at Xaviers. Paint was the only recovery, while those whose mutations granted them enhanced endurance, stamina or healing factors making up most of the healthy. Interestingly, Rogue was also amongst the healthy, as was Betsy. Betsy was unlikely to be infected as Kwannon was not a mutant. Natural immunity was suggested for the reason why Rogue and about five students remained unaffected, given that none of them had mutations that might aid in their resistances.

* * *

There was a light knock at Gambit's door and he opened it to find Rogue standing there with her hands behind her back.

"Hey," he said and opened the door wider so she could come in.

"Hey," she replied. "Happy birthday."

"Merci," Gambit said, shutting the door behind her.

Rogue pulled the present out from behind her back. Gambit kissed her hand as he accepted it and then ripped the wrapping paper off. He chuckled as he held up the shirt, which said "Bomb Squad. If you see me running, you'd better catch up."

"I like it," he said.

"Oh good," Rogue replied with a grin. "So, what's it like being seventeen again?"

Gambit shrugged and put the shirt down on the bed.

"Better than last time," he replied. "Last time I was still in Stryker's clutches, although it was the year I escaped so not all bad."

"Even if we're in the middle of a bit of an epidemic at the moment?" Rogue asked.

Gambit wrapped Rogue up in his arms.

"We're going to get through this," he said firmly. "Everyone's going to be just fine. Paint got through it."

"She had a milder case."

"She still got through it. That mean this Legacy virus isn't unbeatable."

* * *

Monet had to sit down. She wiped her forehead of sweat and rested her head against the wall. She would just close her eyes for a little while. Her healing factor probably just needed a moment to do its thing. She had been working rather hard lately.

When she woke, she was back in her own bed along with her roommate who had come down with Legacy a few days ago. Someone must have moved her. Well, she couldn't stay here. There was still so much to so. So much...

Monet dissolved into a coughing fit, bad enough to attract the attention of one of the many volunteers. She came in and sat by her with a hot cup of honey-laced tea.

"There," she said softly to Monet. "You just rest now, dear. That's the best thing you can do."

* * *

Logan coughed and all heads turned.

"What?" Logan demanded.

"Nothing," Rogue said quickly, even as she felt sick to the stomach at the idea of Logan—who had the highest grade healing factor around—was coming down with Legacy too. "I uhh, just got word. John and James Proudstar are sick now."

"This is crap," Logan muttered. "We've being going around for weeks even trying to help everyone and everyone's just getting worse. Have any of you even looked at Jimmy lately? He's got a case so bad I'm sure he's going to drop off any minute."

Three cups simultaneously exploded and everyone looked anxiously at Gambit.

"That's stress," Gambit said tersely. "Not a sign I've got Legacy. I haven't had full control for over a year now."

"I can't believe we're just down to the four of us," Betsy said quietly. "Well, four adults anyway, and half a dozen students, including Paint."

"Have they stopped using her for a pincushion yet?" Gambit asked disgustedly.

"Yes."

"Bon," Gambit replied, leaning back in his chair at the table in the dining hall. "The poor fille's gone through enough crap as it is."

Rogue reached over and put her hand on Gambit's shoulder sympathetically. As he looked up at her she felt her face began to tingle. The expression on Gambit's face turned to horror as Logan swore.

"Rogue?" Betsy exclaimed. "Remy!"

"No," Gambit said, shaking his head in denial even as he fought for hold over the charge which was dancing magenta across Rogue's skin. "No, I can't even charge living tissue!"

Rogue lifted her other hand and moved her hand on Gambit's shoulder to pull down her glove slightly. It was definitely her skin, not her clothes.

"Rogue," Logan said with his horror and anguish fully apparent in his voice.

"I can't," Gambit said in distress as Rogue cupped his face with his hands. "I'm so sorry."

"I love you," she said gently, and then she kissed him.

x-x-x

_Gambit felt out of place in the lavish LeBeau dining room. He looked at the plate set before him, full of more food than he would eat in a day, let alone one meal. Beside the plate was a knife and fork and behind the plate a glass of clear water. Everything smelt so good._

_He looked up apprehensively at the two men at the table. One was Jean-Luc LeBeau, Patriarch of the Thieves Guild and the man who had brought him here today. The other was his teenage son, Henri. Gambit tentatively picked up the knife and fork, attempting to copy how they used them. He cut off a piece of chicken and used the fork—awkwardly—to put it into his mouth._

_Gambit's eyes boggled. Chicken was a luxury on the streets, and when you did get it, it was usually cold, dry and stringy. This was incredible. It was hot, tender and full of flavour._

_It was the best thing he had ever eaten._

_He ate slowly, mostly because he wanted to savour the taste, but also because he wanted to hide his scavenging. It wouldn't do to eat everything all at once. Jean-Luc had told him he was adopted now, and he was to call him 'Père', but Gambit had learned long ago not to put stock in anyone's promises. So discreetly, when he thought Jean-Luc and Henri weren't watching, he slipped food from his plate into his napkin._

_Not the chicken though. The chicken was for tonight. It was too good to eat cold._

x-x-x

_Gambit screamed. His arms and legs were bound, holding him to the table. There was a cold knife to the shaven patch at the back of his head and he could feel the stickiness of blood._

_"Hold him down!"_

_"What's he even doing awake away? Didn't we anesthetise him?"_

_"Doesn't look like it took."_

_"Try it again, or find a better way to restrain him. I can't operate if he's writhing around like this."_

x-x-x

_Gambit pulled himself up onto Bella Donna's balcony and wolf-whistled at her as she walked past the open balcony door._

_"You!" Bella Donna exclaimed, frowning at him as she drew close. "I was expecting you half an hour ago."_

_"Désolé, ma chère," Gambit replied suavely as he took her hand and kissed it. "I got held up."_

_"Hmph. Held someone else up more likely," Bella Donna snorted contemptuously._

_"Perhaps. How are you doing?"_

_Bella Donna sighed and sat down on the balcony chair._

_"Julien got sworn in as Patriarch today," she said. "The first thing he did was to call off the wedding. You Thieves'll get the official notice tomorrow."_

_"Ahh," Gambit replied as he sat down beside her._

_There was silence for a time._

_"Wanna get married anyway?" Gambit asked._

_Bella Donna laughed._

_"And what good would that do?" she asked, bemused. "It won't unite the Guilds. It's more likely to start a war. You know, after Julien kills you and then your family declares war on the Assassins in retaliation."_

_"He'd have to catch me first."_

_"You want to go on the run?"_

_"I'd run anywhere with you."_

_"Charmer," Bella Donna retorted, but not without a smile on her face. "I'll think about it."_

x-x-x

_"You don't like flying, huh?" Gambit teased Logan as he glanced over to where Logan was sitting beside him in the plane._

_"I'm fine, just concentrate on what you're doing," Logan replied shortly._

_"You sure?" Gambit said, grinning at him. "You got a bit of sweat on your brow there."_

_"Very funny. Just keep your eyes on the—"_

_"On the what?" Gambit asked, looking back out the front window. "The clouds? Keep my eyes on the clouds?"_

_"You're going up and down like a freaking yo-yo here!" Logan snapped at him. "Where'd you get this thing anyway?"_

_"Oh, this is my baby," Gambit replied as he hit the console affectionately. "I won her in a game. Jacks over Fives."_

_"Great," Logan muttered._

_"Relax. We're almost there."_

x-x-x

_With the stealth of a cat, Gambit walked up behind a most pleasant sight: Emma Frost from behind. He smirked to himself as he slipped his arms around her waist, holding on tight when she jumped._

_"What a pleasant surprise finding you here, chère," he purred in her ear._

_"Remy LeBeau," Emma replied, her voice thick with venom. "Get your hands off me."_

_"Now why would I want to do a thing like that?" Gambit replied. "You're just so nice to hold. Why can't we just be friends?"_

_"You left me behind at Stryker's, that's why."_

_"How about just sex then?"_

_"I wouldn't sleep with you if you were the last man on earth."_

_"Your clothes suggest otherwise."_

_"Hands. Off. Now."_

_Gambit lifted his hands and smirked at her as she turned to face him._

_"Whatever you want, ma chère," Gambit replied expansively. "Until next time we meet, no?"_

_He made it all the way to the street before Emma realised he'd robbed her, yelling after him with an angry "Remy LeBeau!" He just laughed. _

x-x-x

_Gambit saw Bella Donna at the cafe with her newborn baby in a pram besides her and slowly, quietly walked over to her. Although he spoke to Bella Donna, his eyes were on the baby girl._

_"Is she mine?" he asked quietly._

_Bella Donna glanced at Gambit, then at Mignonette._

_"Don't be silly," she replied dismissingly as she stood. "Mignonette's my baby."_

_"That's not an answer," Gambit said._

_But Bella Donna didn't say another word, she just left._

x-x-x

_Gambit looked around at the Xavier mansion in interested as he walked with Storm down the hall._

_"Remy?" Storm said pleasantly._

_"Oui, chère?" Gambit asked, slipping his arm about her waist._

_"Don't steal anything while you're here," she replied firmly._

_"Stormy!" Gambit exclaimed dramatically. "I'm hurt you would even suggest such a thing. I never steal from friends."_

_"And Remy?"_

_"Oui?"_

_"Don't call me Stormy."_

_"Okay Stormy."_

x-x-x

_Gambit barely spared Julien's sprawled figure on the floor another look. Instead he turned to the pink-haired Sarah with haunted eyes. He held out his hand to her._

_"Come ma chère," he said gently. "You don't have to stay here, with him."_

_"Yes, I do," Sarah replied, her voice thick. "My Guild is counting on me."_

_"Get off my whore, LeBeau," Julien snarled. "Go get one of your own."_

_"I don't think he can, Julien," sneered one of the Assassins. "Even they reject him."_

_"You don't deserve to be treated this way, Sarah," Gambit said seriously, ignoring them._

_"Neither does my family," Sarah replied._

_He looked at her helplessly. He didn't want to leave Sarah with Julien, but at the same time, he understood why she was staying._

_"You're a good woman, Sarah," Gambit told her. "If you ever changed your mind—"_

_"I won't."_

_He touched her face gently and winced inwardly as she flinched. She relaxed after a moment, but it did make Gambit wonder what Julien was like at home (and then he decided he didn't want to think about it)._

_"Then," he went on, "since you are so determined to stay, will you at least let me give you something instead?"_

_"I... I suppose..." Sarah stammered in surprise. "What?"_

_"How a _real_ man kisses a woman."_

_Before anyone could summon a protest, Gambit kissed her full on the mouth. This was not a kiss of lust or for show, this was a kiss of passion and he poured his soul into it. This something he wanted her to remember, to give her strength and hope for the times ahead. It was all he knew to do for Sarah, possibly the most courageous woman he'd ever met._

x-x-x

_"I hear I'm an oncle again," Gambit said as he poked his head into the room._

_"Hi Remy," Mercy said tolerantly, but her voice warmed up as she said the next words: "This is Aimee."_

_"Well now," Gambit said as he moved in for a closer look at his newborn niece. "Isn't she the pretty one? Must take after her mother."_

_"Of course," Mercy agreed, and winking at Henri who just rolled his eyes._

x-x-x

_Melissa's lip curled and Gambit sat there and took it as her hand slapped him across the face._

_"How dare you!" she exclaimed. "Get out!"_

_"Chère –"_

_"Don't 'chère' me," Melissa snapped. "This whole time you've been lying to me!"_

_"Mel, it's not like that—"_

_"Out!"_

_"Please, Mel, listen to me—"_

_"Why? So you can manipulate me some more?"_

_"I've never manipulated you!"_

_"Get out!" Melissa screamed. "I never want to see you again!"_

x-x-x

_Gambit blinked and swayed in his seat while Logan smirked at him._

_"Starting to feel it, Cajun?" Logan asked._

_Gambit held his thumb and forefinger an inch apart. "Just a little bit."_

_"Game for another round, or are you going to call it quits?" Logan inquired as the bartender nervously pushed over another pair of shot glasses._

_"Psh," Gambit snorted. "I can drink anything you put down in front of me, mon ami."_

_"I'm sure you can drink it," Logan replied with a smirk. "But can you hold it?"_

x-x-x

_"And this next round's on the birthday boy," Henri declared._

_"Yeah!" cheered their group of friends as the drinks began to go around._

_"Thanks a lot, Henri," Gambit mused._

_"You're welcome."_

_Gambit chuckled and lifted his glass. Just as he brought it to his lips, something penetrated his neck and he lurched forward._

_"Remy?" Henri exclaimed._

_Gambit blinked as he reached up to his neck and his fingers curled around the plastic dart. The world seemed to lose its lustre as he pulled out the dart. His friends watched in uncertain silence as Gambit unfurled the paper taped to the dart and all saw the bold, black letters:_

_HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUCKER_

_"Julien," Emil snarled, looking around._

_"Remy, you okay?" Etienne asked._

_Gambit attempted to charge the paper, but he already knew without even trying that he couldn't do it. He couldn't feel the energy in his body any more. It was just gone._

_"The Cure," Remy said numbly. "He's given me the Cure."_

x-x-x

_"I'm hurt LeBeau," Julien said as he and his friends approached. "I never got a thank you card for the fine present I got you."_

_Gambit looked up slowly from the cards in his hand. He was really not in the mood. He been tired, sleeping an obscene eight hours a day, something Henri had the audacity to call 'normal'. He'd been slow with poor reflexes in all his workouts, verging on what he deemed to be clumsiness, although apparently he was the only one who noticed how much off his game he had been the last two days._

_"I decided I wanted to thank you in person," Gambit replied calmly._

_Julien laughed, catching the blow easily._

_"That all you got, LeBeau?" he sneered. "You ain't nothing without your powers, are you?"_

_It was twice now that Gambit had been robbed of his gifts, but he was a survivor. He hated being normal, but he'd be damned if he let Julien Boudreaux have the last laugh._

_"Au contraire, mon ami," Gambit replied calmly. __"Mon powers are nothing without me."_

_Wit had never really been Julien's forte, and while he was trying to figure out what Gambit had meant by that, Gambit struck him for real. Julien snarled at him and that was the cue for both parties to back off (and innocent bystanders to run away). There was a tense silence for the briefest of moments, and then Julien lunged for him, knife in hand._

_Julien wasn't going to kill him, of that Gambit was certain; there were far too many prospects for gloating and baiting that Julien could do. Gambit was more entertaining to him alive. But Gambit refused to be Julien's court jester. Yes his speed, agility and dexterity was off, but just because he was physically off his game, didn't mean he was mentally._

_The two had fought each other many times over the years. They had each gotten to know the other's techniques pretty well. Even now, Gambit could tell Julien was playing with him, teasing and taunting, letting him in close, dancing away again and getting in a few sucker strikes and succeeded in disarming him of his stuff. But Julien had forgotten one important thing:_

_His name was Gambit, and he didn't need powers to be unpredictable._

_Somehow, Gambit got in underneath. His hand twisted Julien's knife hand, and with adrenaline pumping through his veins, he rammed the knife in between Julien's ribs. Julien gasped and coughed up blood._

_Julien looked surprised._

x-x-x

_Gambit's eyes fell on the beautiful young woman who entered the med lab supporting a young teenage boy. His eyes ran appreciatively over her shapely body. Vibrant green eyes sparkled behind a streak of white._

_"Oh my," said Hank. "What's happened here?"_

_"A little too much enthusiasm in the gym," the woman reported. "Ankle."_

_"I see. Why don't you and Ray go to room number three? I'll be with you shortly."_

_"Okay."_

_Gambit's head followed her, his eyes firmly planted on her hips which swayed seductively as she walked, even supporting the weight of 'Ray'._

_"Please tell me she's the nurse," Gambit said._

_Hank coughed uncomfortably._

_"No," Logan said tersely. "She's my assistant."_

_"_Personal _assistant?" Gambit asked suggestively._

_"It's nice to know some things haven't changed," Storm said dryly._

x-x-x

_Gambit sat back in the bed as Rogue took the tray off his lap. He wished he could see her properly. He could sense things, objects, the clothes she was wearing, but he couldn't _see_ anything._

_"You know Roguey," he said slyly. "I've been in bed for over a day now."_

_"You know," Rogue said musingly. "I did notice that."_

_"So, it's been over a day since I had a shower," he went on with a nod._

_"Uh huh," she replied in that drawl he loved so much._

_"Obviously it's not safe for me to go into the shower so I really think you should give me a sponge bath," he said, knowing full well she wouldn't go for it._

_"I don't think so."_

_"What's the point of having my own personal nurse if I don't get a sponge bath?"_

_"Me getting your food for you and keeping you company isn't enough?"_

_"Nope," he replied cheerfully. "I'm all dirty."_

_"Yeah, I know that already. You've been dirty since the day we met."_

x-x-x

_Gambit felt sick as he looked at Rogue, her skin glowing with magenta light. He pulled at it and pulled, but he couldn't seem to remove the explosive charge from the love of his life._

_He'd killed her._

_"I can't," Gambit said in distress as Rogue cupped his face with his hands. "I'm so sorry."_

_"I love you," she said gently, and then she kissed him._


	56. Rogue's In Charge Now

**AN:** Lucida Lownes wanted Rogue to give Remy a revenge hickey. Hehehe.

* * *

**Chapter 55: Rogue's In Charge Now**

Logan leaned on the table, his head resting in his hands. Of course, it was the only way to save her life: Rogue had to absorb either himself or Gambit, and Gambit was the logical choice. Still, as she pulled away from Gambit it wasn't easy seeing those red on black eyes in her head.

"Remy," Rogue said softly, lifting one hand to run it through his hair. "Remy? I... I guess it's going to take him a bit."

"Umm, Rogue," Betsy said tentatively. "I think I should have a look..."

"Hmm? Oh, yes of course," Rogue replied, not taking her eyes away from Gambit. "Go right ahead."

"You all right, Rogue?" Logan asked.

Rogue paused while she felt Betsy enter her mind. Gambit sure was mind-sensitive—she'd never felt anything like that before.

"Oui, I think so," Rogue said finally, glancing over at Logan. "I think I can understand why he has so much trouble sitting still though."

Logan chuckled softly. That had been close. Far too close. He had no idea when Gambit had started being able to charge living tissue but it was not a happy development. Leaving her hands on her boyfriend, Rogue looked around the room.

"Wow," she said softly.

"What's wow?" Logan asked.

"Remy sees everything a lot differently from us," Rogue said as she continued to look around. "He doesn't just see light, dark and colour, he can also see... I'm not sure how to describe it. Potential energy, I suppose. This table, my glove, you; he can see exactly how much charge it can take; how exactly he can move the molecules to make it..."

Logan raised his eyebrows as a spoon on the table began to glow magenta. Rogue smiled and the glow faded.

"I think I know why Remy—" Rogue began and then cut herself off as she felt Betsy emerge from her mind.

"Rogue?" Betsy said.

"Oui, chère?" Rogue replied.

"I know I'm not Emma," Betsy said as she held out her hand to Rogue challengingly. "But I dare you not to absorb me."

Rogue looked at Betsy's hand, then at Betsy. Her smile broadened and Rogue pulled off her glove. There was only a moments' hesitation and then her hand was in Betsy's.

Nothing happened.

"I did it," Rogue said, her eyes bright and her heart pounding with joy. "I did it!"

"Congratulations, love," Betsy replied, grinning for her.

"Logan, did you see me?" Rogue exclaimed. "I didn't absorb her! I have my powers and I _didn't_ absorb her!"

"Yeah," Logan replied with a proud grin. "Yeah, I saw."

Betsy chuckled as Rogue bounded over the table in a very Gambit-esque manner and hugged Logan fiercely. Then a groan emerged from Gambit's lips and he lifted his hand to rub his head.

"Roguey?"

"Remy!" Rogue exclaimed.

In a trice she had done a 180, scooted across the table and slipped onto Gambit's lap, straddling him. Her arms were around him and she was kissing him once more.

"I can control it, Remy!" she said excitedly as she pulled only a short space away. "I can control my powers!"

Gambit couldn't say anything. He lifted his shaking hands to trace her face, needing to feel her, to know she was still alive. His own eyes looked back at him.

"I thought I'd killed you," he said finally, his voice cracking with the anguish he felt.

Logan cleared his throat and looked discreetly away, as did Betsy.

"I know, mon cher," Rogue replied softly. "I know, but...but I'm alive and well, and I have my powers under control now, _and_ I have you to thank for it."

His finger ran over her cheeks, her lips, her nose.

"Rogue, I—" he began.

Rogue put her finger over his lips, silencing him.

"I love you, Remy LeBeau," she said firmly. "No matter what happens, that will never change."

* * *

Gambit opened his door that evening to find Rogue standing there and he was relieved to see her eyes were green again. Silently he held the door open for her. He'd been pretty much useless since lunch. He knew they needed all the help they could get in looking after the many sick, but he just couldn't concentrate and ended up spending the bulk of the afternoon in the danger room.

He'd almost killed the woman he loved most in the world, and he was having a hard time getting past that to celebrate her control with her.

"Missed you at dinner," Rogue said as she stepped inside.

Gambit just shrugged and closed the door. Rogue chewed her bottom lip.

"Look, Remy—" she began.

"I've decided to go look for a neurosurgeon," Gambit said, not looking at her.

"What? Why?" Rogue asked in surprise.

"I can't go on like this," he said, his eyes firmly staring at the back of the door. "I'm just a danger to myself and everyone around me. I almost killed you today, Rogue—"

"Remy—"

"You're the woman I love more than anything or anyone else in the world and I _almost killed you_."

"You don't need surgery," Rogue said firmly. "You can control them."

"No, I can't. It's time to face facts I—" he cut off as something on his table blew up. "See?"

"Oh no you don't," she replied determinedly, grabbing hold of him and forcing him to look at her. "You're going to get control and I'll tell you why. One, you have me. Two, you have everyone else here, even Emma, who are determined to help you get this control. Three, the Remy LeBeau I know doesn't give up just because the stakes are high. Four, I know why you can't control them."

"Oh really?" Gambit retorted, trying not to sound sarcastic and failing. "You know why I can't control them? I thought it was obvious! I'm an over-powered teenager!"

"Well, I've no doubt the teenager thing is part of it," Rogue smirked at him. "But there's actually a really simple explanation. You've been generating energy at full-ball your entire life. At first you weren't generating all that much—you _had_ to go full-ball because you weren't going to charge anything. But see, then you got experimented on at Stryker's and you continued to produce at full-ball because it was manageable. You don't have to generate it at full-speed all the time. In the danger room, when you're healing, other strenuous physical exercise, sure, go right ahead. But the rest of the time, you are capable of turning it down. You just have to teach yourself how to do it. And trust me, I know you can do it, because I did it myself when I had your powers."

Gambit fell silent.

"Okay, granted that's probably not the only reason," Rogue conceded. "Your storage capacity probably does need beefing up, but I have massive storage capabilities, so, seriously, if you ever feel overloaded, I can just absorb your excess. And you probably need to refine your technique. Being underpowered all this time's made you lazy, Squeaky. But I can help you with all of it. The only power I ever had trouble controlling was my own. I've always been able to control everyone elses just fine."

Gambit slowly turned away from the wall to look at her, although he didn't meet her eyes. Rogue took this as a victory and wrapped her arms tightly around him.

"Just give me a chance, okay?" she said. "Well, you kind of have to anyway, as there's no way you could have surgery now with Legacy going around. Please? For me?"

Gambit couldn't stop the smile from tugging at his lips as he saw her fluttering her eyelids at him. He sighed.

"D'accord."

"Yay!" she cheered childishly and hugged him happily.

Gambit slowly wrapped his arms around her. He didn't much like the idea of going under the knife again anyway.

"Okay," Rogue said, abruptly pulling away. "Now let's see, first you're going to start meditating with me first thing in the morning. Okay... first thing after _I_ get up in the morning."

Gambit snickered.

"Trust me," she said seriously. "That'll help you get in tune with your powers."

"In tune?" Gambit repeated, half in amusement, half in skepticism.

"And I'm gonna start joining you for your afternoon danger room sessions," Rogue went on merrily. "That's when we'll work on your technique."

"There's nothing wrong with my technique," he objected.

"Suuuure there isn't, if you want every explosion to be an instant nuclear bomb," Rogue smirked at him as she tugged him towards the bed. "But for now, I'm going to stay the night. Because I got my powers under control, Remy! And I wanna celebrate by touching you again."

Rogue's legs hit the back of the bed and she wrapped her arms about Gambit's neck, drawing him in for a kiss. His hands went about her waist and then hers slid down his back, taking hold of his shirt and they pulled away just long enough for Rogue to get it past his head. As his shirt hit the floor, Gambit attempted to lower Rogue down to the bed, but she resisted. Instead she got up on the bed herself, waited for Gambit to join her and promptly—much to his surprise—pushed _him_ down and straddled him.

"Uh, uh, uh," Rogue said, wagging her finger in front of his face as he attempted to flip them over. "My turn on top."

"Aww Roguey—"

"You're just going to have to lie there and take it like a man," Rogue nodded.

"Maybe I don't want to."

"Maybe I know, and I don't care."

Before Gambit could summon up any more protests, Rogue's lips met his once more, kissing him in exactly the way she knew he liked to be kissed. There were some definite advantages to having him in her head. Others included knowing exactly what Gambit would do to try and flip them over again, and was able to counter every move. His preference was a mix of wanting to dominate and have control, but also that he couldn't just lie still.

She kissed down his neck and then dragged her tongue across his torso.

"You at least going to take your shirt off, chère?" Gambit asked, lifting his head to look at her.

"Nope," Rogue replied, between planting kisses on his stomach. "Cruel, aren't I?"

Gambit grunted and propped himself up on his arms. He certainly was not expecting for Rogue to glare at him and then practically pounce on his upper body, forcing him back down to the bed again. In one felt swoop she had captured his wrists and forced them above his head. Much to Gambit's annoyance, he realised she knew exactly how to hold him down so he couldn't get free. She smirked down at him.

"Tried to get away from me did you?" she teased him.

Before Gambit could reply, Rogue's shirt started sparkling with magenta light. At about the same moment, he could feel his energy being siphoned and it took him a moment to realise Rogue was absorbing him. The charge vanished.

"That's cheating," she informed him as her eyes briefly flashed red on black.

"I wasn't trying to—" Gambit began.

"I know."

"I don't like being pinned down, chère."

Rogue grinned at him and made a rumbling, growling noise from the back of her throat, which, Gambit privately admitted to himself, turned him on.

"I know that too," she said smugly.

She began kissing his neck again, mixing in light bites and sucking at his skin.

"Rogue," Gambit asked suspiciously. "Are you giving me a hickey?"

"Yep," she replied cheerfully.

"I thought you said hickeys were for teenagers?"

"We _are_ teenagers."

* * *

Gambit held Rogue in his arms as she slept. He was still a little annoyed with her for not letting him have his way, but at the same time, the experience hadn't been unpleasant. Even if she had blatantly refused to take her shirt off. Who was he to make demands of her anyway, especially after today?

He couldn't believe she'd come back to him. He'd almost killed her and six months before that almost raped her. She'd been abducted and beaten by Marcus because of him, and narrowly avoided being gang raped. She'd been regressed because of him.

And yet, Gambit realised, she was right. By regressing he really had given her a chance to get her powers under control. The situation with Marcus had been out of his hands too. He still wasn't happy with his behaviour that triggered her powers at the beginning of the year, but even that had turned out all right. He'd also forced her—albeit by accident—to absorb someone before they'd planned, but the extended wait was intended as a safety margin, not a 'you have to wait until this time or else' kind of thing.

To top it all off, instead of freaking out about almost being killed by him, she had self-appointed herself as his instructor. After all these years of expecting that Rogue was going to be the one who needed help controlling her powers, it he was, Gambit, who had always had excellent control until a year ago, who was having problems.

He didn't like feeling out of control and helpless. He didn't like having to rely on other people either. He'd always been a loner, answerable only to himself and free to take all the high risks he wanted, confident and knowledgeable in his abilities.

Gambit ran his fingers through Rogue's hair and it was at that moment he finally understood.

He'd started aging rapidly after Julien had given him the Cure. Unable to control that side of him, and unwilling to just lie around and see what happened, he made a decision and took as much control as he could. He said good bye to his family and went to New York because if anyone would know how to stop it, it would be Storm.

Then in his moment of weakness after the Cure faded, he'd failed to speak up and tell Rogue not to absorb him. He'd held onto that, choosing to see Rogue's regression as his fault, his decision, but it wasn't. Gambit let out a long, slow breath at that thought. He knew Rogue well enough by now to know she was telling the truth when she said she would have absorbed him regardless of what he said. It hadn't been weakness or cowardice, it has simply been out of his control.

_He_ decided he owed Rogue. _He _decided she needed looking after. Yet she had never asked for any of that. She had only asked for his friendship. Still he'd stepped up and sought to control what happened to her. Yet, Rogue was controlling and stubborn in her own right. She may have let him get away with some things, but she never let him take over. She stood her own ground and took a hold of her own life.

Was it any wonder he fell for her?

Gambit smiled to himself. It happened again. He chose not to ask her out because that was something he could control. If he didn't ask her out, he would know for certain that he wouldn't romantically hurt her. Then Rogue asked him. He couldn't have stopped that, he could only control his answer to her question.

The first time he had lost control of his life—really lost control—was when he'd been in Stryker's clutches. Now he was loosing control again, but it was his powers that were at fault. He had come to the surgery option because it was brain surgery that had dealt with the issue—before it even began—the first time. In many ways the decision was a contradiction: he'd decided to hand over control to another person in order to regain control of himself.

He kissed Rogue's forehead. He hated the idea of surgery. If he had to hand over the reigns of his life to anyone, he'd choose Rogue over some faceless surgeon any day.

And that was why, Gambit decided, that he and Rogue were going to work out when he and so many other women had failed miserably. It wasn't just because they loved each other, but because they knew they could rely on the other when things went bad. They supported each other; it wasn't just him taking everything on himself.

Gambit was content.

* * *

Rogue was already dressed when Gambit returned from his early morning danger room session.

"Morning, chère," he said.

"Morning," she replied cheerfully. "Ready for meditation?"

"Can I shower first?"

"Make it quick."

He gave her a salute and she grinned at him. He showered and changed quickly and then joined Rogue out on his balcony.

"Okay," Rogue said. "Sit like this with your feet touching."

Feeling a little silly, Gambit sat as he was bade on the floor.

"Now, relax, close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing," she went on.

"How do you relax and concentrate at the same time?" Gambit asked slyly.

"Relax your body, smarty-pants," Rogue retorted. "No talking now."

Gambit drew silent and attempted to follow Rogue's instructions. How long he was sitting there, feeling like a dork, he wasn't sure, It was hard trying to concentrate on his breathing without his mind wandering. Then his leg started bouncing, and of course Rogue notice immediately.

"You can stop that you know, Remy," she said.

"Sure I can," he replied smoothly. "Then the other leg will start up. How can you tell, anyway? Your eyes are closed as well, right?"

"Vibration. If you can't focus on your breathing, then focus on your energy. Feel the way it flows within you."

"I—"

"Silently. You can concentrate better if you don't talk."

Gambit sighed heavily and attempted to follow her instructions.

* * *

The day before, Betsy and Rogue had decided to switch places. Since Rogue had both interest in things mechanical and control over her powers now, Rogue would absorb Forge and gain both his knowledge and inventing powers to finally finish making more of the power dampeners. They had so few of the devices, and unfortunately a few too many mutants with powers that were dangerous when out of control. As a result, there was a great deal of crowding around the working power dampeners they had. By midday, much to Betsy's disgust, Rogue had managed to produce an additional two power dampeners, which were immediately put to work.

Gambit stuck to the areas where they did have working power dampeners. Being able to charge living tissue made him nervous. Sure, Rogue had survived, but Gambit wasn't willing to risk accidentally blowing up anyone else.

As planned, Rogue joined Gambit for his afternoon session in the danger room. Before Gambit had a chance to start his usual program, Rogue addressed the computer and asked for a specific 'carnival booth' program to run. Gambit smiled in amusement when he saw a shooting game, the kind where you have three rows of targets that run in different directions. Rogue had set the program to level one, however, so the targets were stationary.

"Is this a joke?" Gambit asked.

"Nope," Rogue replied cheerfully. "Blow me up some targets, sugar."

Gambit looked at the targets and blew up all fifteen of them at once.

"Very impressive," she drawled. "Now do it one at a time. Computer: Reset."

He threw her an odd look, but then glanced over at the target again. He picked the middle one and blew that up.

"Nope," Rogue said before he could move onto the next. "That was five targets."

"What? No it wasn't," Gambit objected. "Only one went boom."

"Yeah, but it scorched the ones next to it, Remy," Rogue pointed out. "They're only small. You don't need that much energy. Computer: Reset."

"You know, the whole point of me coming in here is to use up energy," Gambit pointed out.

"We'll get to that later," she dismissed. "Right now you need to learn not to wield the sledgehammer all the time."

"I do not wield a sledgehammer all the time," he objected.

"Yeah I know," Rogue agreed. "When you've been blowing stuff up by accident you haven't even noticed the amount of energy you've been using because it's so light. Now you have to teach yourself how to do that consciously."

Gambit sighed, glanced over at the targets again, and still managed to scorch the four surrounding targets.

"Chère—"

"We all need to practice."

Rogue grinned at him as he grumbled.

"If you humour me for ten minutes," she said slyly, "I'll let you touch my boobs."

Gambit turned his head and eyed Rogue's grinning face suspiciously.

"Diabolical woman," he muttered.

Rogue laughed.


	57. Invasion

**Chapter 56: Invasion**

Rogue glanced up from her work in Forge's lab to check the computer monitors. The last of the volunteers were leaving for home as the day drew to a close. When this was all over, Rogue was certain they'd find a way to repay them—all of them—for their invaluable help.

Once more Rogue became immersed in her work and became jolted out of her zone an hour later by Gambit's arrival.

"Just how much of Forge have you absorbed, chère?" he asked. "I'm beginning to wonder if you're planning on living down here like he does."

Rogue laughed and glanced at the clock.

"Just let me finish this," she said.

"Oui, that's what Forge says too."

"Shush you."

"Don't believe I've ever heard him say that though."

Rogue giggled. However, she was once more distracted when a beeping noise sounded. Gambit frowned as he checked the computer.

"We've got people in the secret passages," he reported, tapping away at the computer. "Incoming."

"Incoming?" Rogue repeated. "That can't be right. They're for escaping, not entering. And besides, most of the people who all know where they are, are all sick."

"I don't know what to tell you, Roguey," Gambit replied, and hit the button for the intercom. "Intruder alert. Ten man squads coming in via each escape route."

_"Intruders?" _Betsy's voice rang over the intercom. _"Through the secret passages?"_

"Oui," Gambit confirmed.

_"Investigating..."_

_"What's there to investigate?" _Logan demanded. _"Grab your communicators. Squeaky, you take C. Stripes, you've got B. I'll take A and Betsy take D. I don't suppose anyone put in lock down doors on the escape routes?"_

"Nope," Rogue said as she put her communicator on. "Guess no one considered we might be invaded through the escape routes."

_"Have to fix that,"_ Logan said.

_"Ah ha, got it," _Betsy said. _"I think they may be using Mentis, because they're hard to read, but they're not expecting resistance. Only some of them are armed. The rest of them have restraints and stretchers."_

"Of course," Rogue said, realisation in her voice. "They must have heard everyone was sick."

_"More mutants for them to experiment on,"_ Logan growled.

"We have surprise on our side then. Good," Gambit said darkly. "The house has advantage."

* * *

"Going somewhere, bub?" Logan growled as he stepped through the entrance of the secret passage.

"Yeah," drawled one of the two armed men at the front. "We're coming in."

"Over my dead body."

"That can be arranged."

Logan's claws extended the same time the two fired. He walked forward, taking the shots, and then ran his claws through their guns.

"Next."

* * *

The tunnels were dark, but the shadows worked in Betsy's favour. She didn't have to open the door to get inside. Instead she used the shadows to teleport behind the intruders.

"Evening, gentlemen," Betsy said as her psi- blades formed in her hands. "Care to dance?"

Her first strikes went through the heads of the two men closest to her in order to disable their neural pathways. There was more resistance than she was used to—she put this down to use of Mentis Compesco—and she was forced to fade back into the shadows before she was done as the other men had moved to the walls giving the two gun men up front a clear shot.

She teleported behind one of the gunmen. Maybe her psi-blades wouldn't work normally going through their heads, but she figured she may get the same result plunging her knife through his neck. Betsy smiled and teleported once more as the gun man slumped to the floor, temporarily paralysed when his brain was no longer able to get signals through to the rest of his body.

* * *

Gambit turned the lights off before he entered the tunnel. He didn't need light to see where he was going or the ten men before him. He could feel them.

The only lights in the tunnel were the torches the men had turned on when the tunnel lights went out. They were on the alert now, but Gambit hadn't spent a lifetime trained as a thief without learning to be quieter than a mouse. He extended his staff and took out a pair of cards. One thing he had learned from training with Rogue: it was easier to measure the charge when he was touching it, rather than doing it by sight. He waited until the optimal moment, then threw the cards, each aimed directly to the gunmen's hands. They were forced to drop their weapons and Gambit sprung into action before they could pick them up again.

* * *

On the way to B, Rogue stopped by Sally's room and took the liberty of borrowing her force field generating powers. As soon as she entered the not-so-secret passage, she generated a force field to protect herself from any injuries. The fact that she could absorb Logan's healing factor wasn't the point; Rogue didn't intend on getting hurt in the first place.

She wasn't Logan's star pupil for nothing either.

Although the gunmen opened fire, Rogue merely stood there with her force field up until they ran out of ammo. Then the fight began. It had been two years since she'd fought Marcus and his three friends; four guys who had been training to kill since birth. These ten did not having that training. Nor did they have any way of knowing that she had spent those last two years training to take out multiple targets at once. She didn't even have to absorb anyone.

Still, when the battle was over, Rogue did absorb the man who appeared to be the squad leader. Maybe Mentis Compesco prevented Betsy from being able to read them properly, but Rogue's ability wasn't telepathic. She learned what she needed to know, and then let go.

* * *

The following morning found Rogue by Logan's side where he laid on the bed. She didn't look up at the sound of heavy foot steps behind her.

"This second strain of the Legacy virus must be bad if it's felled even Wolverine," Magneto observed.

"He got shot last night, multiple times, taking out the invaders," Rogue replied, obviously upset. "I guess his healing factor couldn't handle that many bullets _and_ Legacy. What are you doing here?"

"Legacy effects us all."

"All the Brotherhood are here, chère," Gambit said then and Rogue turned to look at him. She hadn't even heard him come in.

"Okay," Rogue said quietly.

* * *

Pyro waited in the conference room. Beside him was Wanda and next to her, Pietro. On his other side was Avalanche, and beside him, Jamie Madrox, also known as Multiple Man. Mystique was with them as well. She and Magneto had come to 'an understanding' a couple of years ago. What the terms of this understanding were, Pyro didn't know, but it seems to involve a lot of yelling, verbal barbs and general tension.

Leaning against the wall was the lovely Betsy.

"So, Psylocke," Pyro said conversationally while they waited. "You decided to join the X-men huh? Brotherhood wasn't good enough for you?"

"Xaviers is the home to one of the most powerful telepaths on the planet," Betsy replied smoothly. "I needed the training. You didn't even have _one _telepath."

"Why do you think we were trying to recruit you?" Pyro asked.

Further conversation was halted as Magneto entered the room, followed closely by Gambit and Rogue.

"Rogue!" Pyro exclaimed and pointed. "No gloves."

"Yeah, no gloves," Rogue confirmed, her voice lacking its usual fire. "I have my powers under control now."

"Awesome. Hey does that have something to do with that reset you were talking about?" Pyro asked as Gambit held out a chair for Rogue.

"Yeah. Except I have four voices in my head now. Gambit, Forge, Sally, and Boris," Rogue answered as she sat down. "Boris is one of the squad leaders that attacked us last night."

"And we would be very interested in knowing what you learned from him," Magneto said, himself now also seated. "I understand you informed the... authorities... when they picked them up that they'd all had suicide pills?"

"Yes and no. All the squad leaders had been fitted with false teeth and instructed to break 'em if they were captured," Rogue replied. "The rest were clean, probably because they didn't know anything of interest."

"And you believe they would have gone through with it?" Magneto pressed.

"I don't think they had a choice," Rogue said seriously. "The instruction was...odd. No, more the memory of receiving the instruction was odd. They got it the same time they were supplied with their dose of Mentis and I think Boris might have had a reaction or something—what?"

"We have reason to believe that immediately after taking Mentis, there is a brief window of opportunity for hypnotic suggestion," Magneto informed them. "They may choose to use this moment to reinforce their instructions. What else did you learn from him?"

"Not a whole lot that was useful," Rogue replied. "They were supplied with the plans of the escape routes, but where they got them, I don't know. They were given instructions to abduct all mutants found here, and provided with a drop off location. They were to leave the vans there and go. His contact always contacted him. He didn't leave a name, but they were paid half in advance, and they were very generous."

"I see."

"Eighty-five percent of our population—whether on campus or not—are sick, with only one recovery so far—Paint—who was also the first to come down. Betsy's current body has no x-gene, so she's immune," Rogue said tersely and Betsy snorted as if to say that was nothing to be proud of. "Twenty-five of our off-campus population—twenty-eight if you out the other three Guthrie kids—have been abducted, and when Emma was well enough to use Cerebro, she couldn't find any of them. Our worst case is Jimmy, whose vitals are so critical Moira MacTaggert wonders that he's still alive. Our youngest case is a _seventeen month old baby_. You had better be here to tell me that you have a way to save our people, Magneto, or stop wasting my time."

Magneto's response was halted by a knock at the door and Trey poked his head in.

"Sorry to interrupt," he said. "But I think I have the Rasputins on the phone. Does anyone here speak Russian?"

Silence.

"I'll get it," Betsy said. "I don't speak it, but Pete does, and he's in the power-dampener-free zone, so I can read his mind."

"It's line one," Trey told her.

Trey departed and Betsy picked up the phone. While that was happening, Wanda pulled out a map.

"We believe we know where to find them," Magneto said. "We had hoped you might be able to supply us with confirmation."

"Wanda, Pietro, Dominic, Jamie and I all got sick too," Pyro put in helpfully. "We would have gotten the first strain off Paint. Since coming here, though, looks like it mutated."

"Ahem," Magneto said pointedly.

"Going on what it was like at other facilities—and assuming they've increased security since then—we can expect to find all guards under the effect of Visagri—" Mystique began.

"What's that?" Rogue asked.

"It's their force field stuff," Gambit said.

"Correct," Mystique confirmed.

"I keep wanting to say 'Viagra'," Pyro put in.

"You know, mon ami, I was thinking the same thing," Gambit nodded.

Magneto rolled her eyes as if to say "Great, two of them."

"As I was saying," Mystique went on. "They may also be under the influence of Eximius Robar, which is their super-strength and durability cocktail. They're also working on an agility and speed cocktail, although at this point we don't know if they're done with that yet."

"Hey Roguey," Pyro said. "You think you can absorb artificial powers?"

"I have no idea," Rogue replied. "I presume they'll all be using Mentis?"

"Standard procedure, as far as we can tell," Mystique confirmed and threw a pointed look at Betsy, who was still on the phone. "Of course, we don't have a telepath."

"Well, I could read Boris' mind just fine," Rogue said. "So I guess I'm the mind reader on this mission. You were, I assume, inviting us along?"

"We would have left already if we weren't," Magneto replied.

"How kind," Rogue replied cynically.

"We have three objectives. Rescue the prisoners, destroy the labs and take out management."

"And by take out you mean?"

"Why don't you leave those details to us, Rogue," Magneto said firmly. "And concentrate your efforts on rescuing your friends."

Rogue was about to reply when Betsy hung up the phone and turned to Rogue and Gambit.

"Illyana Rasputin is dead."

* * *

Sometime later the Blackbird set down alongside Magneto's plane not that far from the Stryfe complex. Gambit walked behind Rogue as she stepped down the ramp. He really couldn't help himself. If there was only one good thing about the X-men uniforms, it was how hot it made Rogue look.

Evidently, he wasn't the only one who thought so, as the moment Pyro spotted Rogue and Betsy in their black leather, form-fitting uniforms, he let loose a wolf whistle. Wanda smacked him upside the head for that one. Rogue snickered, Betsy ignored it and Gambit wrapped his arms around Rogue's waist from behind and rested his head on her shoulder.

"Pyro, Wanda," Magneto said. "You have the warehouse. Avalanche, Pietro, you have the factories. Multiple—"

"Cannon fodder," Jamie replied, smacking his hands together and creating duplicates. "Got it."

"Mystique, X-men," Magneto went on. "You're with me."

With a growing number of Jamies at their sides, they stepped forward. Pyro and Wanda stepped to the right and Pietro and Avalanche to the left to deal with their targets. Magneto's team headed straight for the main building.

"They're gonna see us coming a mile away," Gambit observed.

"Good," Magneto replied. "Then they'll see we're not going to put up with them any longer."

"It also makes us sitting ducks for the folks on the roof."

'What do you think the cannon fodder is for?" answered multiple Jamies.

"I have a better plan," Gambit replied.

There was no time to query this, as a series of gunshots—from plastic guns—was heard from the roof. The bullets never even reached the mutants below. There was a flash of magenta, a boom that seemed to echo through the air, silence, and finally crashing noises as pieces of the roof crumbled to the ground. Gambit elbowed Rogue.

"And you said I didn't need to use a sledge hammer," he teased her.

Rogue laughed and multiple Jamies agreed that they liked him. Dying wasn't much fun, apparently.

They covered the remaining distance quickly after that. The Jamies poured in through the door, disabling regular staff and security alike. He was so effective that there was hardly anything for Magneto, Mystique and the X-men to do when they walked in.

"Rogue," said Magneto as a couple of James brought forth a man in a suit. "Perhaps you would like to read this one's mind."

The man laughed at that and then spat at Rogue as she approached.

"You're wasting your time," he said smugly. "Telepaths can't read me."

"Good thing I'm not a telepath," Rogue replied evenly.

She lifted her hand and touched his face, absorbing him just long enough to get the information she needed.

"Management, top floor," Rogue reported. "Sales this floor. Three basement floors. First one is where they keep the DNA bank, second is where we're most likely to find information on Legacy. Third is the prisons. He's in Sales and doesn't have much of an idea of what goes on downstairs."

"Multiple, flood the floors," Magneto ordered.

"Got it," multiple Jamies replied.

While groups of Jamies hit the elevators and the stairs, Magneto turned to the rest of the group.

"X-men, you have the basement floors," he told them. "Mystique and I will take care of management."

"Of course you will," Rogue replied cynically.

"You should hit basement level 2, Rogue," Betsy cut in then. "You're our best bet at learning anything about Legacy."

Rogue pursed her lips, her eyes not moving from Magneto's, and inclined her head.

"I'll take out the DNA bank," Gambit said. "You go to the prisons, Betsy. I'll meet you when I'm done."

"Let's go," Magneto said.

They waited for the return of the elevators, and then headed down to their respective floors. Gambit gave Rogue a quick kiss before getting off at his floor, and then Rogue stepped onto the second floor, leaving Betsy behind with a couple of Jamies.

The Jamies on the second basement level were already at work, although as this level was primarily populated by scientists, there wasn't exactly a whole lot of resistance. The Jamies pretty much herded all the scientists they could find into the one room, and Rogue followed them in. She looked over them, trying to decide who she should absorb first. She didn't really want to absorb any more people than she had to, especially when she was just getting back into using her powers again.

"What do you want with us?" an older gentleman demanded.

He'll do.

"What do we want?" Rogue repeated as she sauntered over to him. "We want to live."

She touched his face before he could reply and ignored the frighten cries from those around them. Fortunately, the man she absorbed was the Head of Research and he had all the information she needed to know.

"Merde," Rogue cursed as she let go and pulled out her phone, her mind already cross-checking what he knew and what she knew.

"You killed him!" yelled one of the lab assistants.

"He's just in a coma," Rogue dismissed coldly as she dialled. "He'll wake up in three weeks, give or take."

She put the phone to her ear—the opposite one of the one her communicator was in—and waited impatiently for the other end to pick up.

"Xaviers School for Gifted Youngsters."

"Trey, that you? It's Rogue."

"Yeah, this is Trey. What can I do for you Rogue? I thought you were out on a mission."

"I am. Listen, you need to quarantine Jimmy, as in five minutes ago," Rogue replied firmly, aware that Gambit, Betsy and the Brotherhood would also hear her words.

"Heading down to the med lab now," Trey replied. "Why, what's wrong?"

"When Stryfe only succeeded in getting the one sample of Jimmy's DNA, they tried finding a way of making it self replicating using a mix of their own research and that from Worthington Labs," Rogue explained. "They succeeded, but not in the way they intended. The virus they created spread quickly, infected all the mutants they had in captivity and halted their production. This first strain was mild, and everyone recovered, but Paint was rescued and put with us. As soon as the virus came in contact with Jimmy, it mutated into the second strain of Legacy. Trey, Jimmy's sick, but not because he's been infected by Legacy. Jimmy _is _Legacy."


	58. Retrieve and Rescue

**AN: **Let's see... X-23 is Evo/comic canon. Dr Zander Rice and Dr Sarah Kinney are comic canon. I don't recall if they showed up in the Evo-verse or not, which is where X-23 first appeared.

It was mentioned in the "Endangered Species" graphic novel that the Guthries had ten kids, five of which are mutants (of the other five, only two have names and I have no idea how many of them have hit puberty, so potentially there might be more mutants in that family... or not, hehe). I'm not sure of their ages or anything though so, I'm saying the five eldest are Sam, Paige, Jeb, Melody (aka Aero) and Jay (aka Icarus), in that order. This may not be correct, and I'm happy to be corrected if anyone does know the correct order (although I won't change anything that happens in this story to reflect that, heh)

And now that I've done rambling...

* * *

**Chapter 57: Retrieve and Rescue**

A spray filled the air around Rogue and the voice of the Head of Research in her mind put two and two together instantly. One scientist had not been rounded up, and he was the one in charge of the only mutant on this floor.

"X-23."

Rogue dodged just in time. X-23 was only eleven years old, but her mutation had been deliberately, prematurely triggered. She had six claws and a healing factor like Logan, which lead Rogue to believe that it may have been Logan's DNA that they'd made her from, although as far as the head of research was concerned, the donor was only known as "Weapon X". X-23's claws were coated in adamantium. Four of her claws were in her hands and the other two in her feet.

One claws hand came crashing down on the console, just missing Rogue. They'd been training X-23 as a weapon from the beginning. Not only that, but they'd also programed a "trigger scent" that would set X23 upon a murderous rage. Rogue had not doubt at all that that's what was in the spray she was now covered with.

Rogue spent the next couple of minutes dodging blows from the young girl with long black hair and a berserker rage to match Logan's. It didn't matter that X-23 was obviously trying to kill her; she was just a little girl! What kind of monsters were these people?

* * *

"Ahh," Pyro said happily as he sent his flames burning away in the warehouse. "I love the smell of fire in the morning."

"This is the afternoon," Wanda pointed out as she toppled more crates of the Sublime Specialty products into the flames.

"I love the smell of fire in the afternoon," Pyro replied. "Or any time of day really."

"What is that smell?" asked one of the Jamies. "Not the fire, I mean. The other smell."

"Probably all the chemicals," Wanda dismissed.

"Or security guard," Pyro suggested cheerfully. "I wonder if that durability stuff makes 'em burn longer? By the way, Wanda, thanks for disrupting the Viagra."

"Visagri," Wanda corrected.

"Whatever."

* * *

The earthquake rippled through the factory and Avalanche chortled.

"And just think, Dominic," Pietro said, looking at the pile of rubble under which a handful of security guards were now buried. "Those force fields are going to keep them alive under there for days."

Avalanche grinned. They were continuing on their path of destruction, the Jamies in tow, when some of the rocks burst away.

"Ahh, I see you've been using Eximius Robar," Pietro said.

"That just calls for a deeper chasm," Avalanche smirked.

He stamped his foot on the ground and guards and factory workers alike fell down, equipment slipping down the deep walls with them.

* * *

The floor was strewn with security guards, temporarily paralysed from the neck down courtesy of Betsy's psi-blades. Their false mutant powers meant very little to Betsy, whose own abilities were quite enough to circumvent them. She walked down a hall, lined with cells, each one holding a mutant.

"Sam!" she exclaimed.

"Betsy?" Sam coughed weakly.

"Rogue," Betsy said, putting her hand to her ear piece, most to signal to Sam that she was talking on the radio, rather than any real need. "Did they get the second strain of Legacy here?"

There was a momentary silence before Rogue replied: _"Yes."_

"Are you right there?"

_"Just a little busy at the moment."_

"How are you holding up, Sam?"

"Been better," he replied tiredly. "My sisters... brothers... are they all right?"

"I'll need to check," Betsy replied and inspected the walls. "Hmm, I presume you're powerless in there?"

"Uh huh."

"Gambit," Betsy said, once against addressing her communicator. "When you're done up there, we could use your lock picking skills. Also, did we think to bring along any power dampeners?"

_"Oui, we brought deux,"_ Gambit replied. _"I just need a couple more minutes and then I'll be right with you."_

* * *

"Spread out," Magneto ordered as he strode down the hall, pieces of metal flying around, dealing with security as he saw fit. "If Stryfe is here, I want him."

"Oh, you'll get him," Mystique replied direly.

* * *

Gambit went through the DNA bank and found the number he was looking for. He pulled out the tray, made an unimpressed noise, and then deposited the contents into one of the ice-filled esky they had nearby, obviously intended for this purpose. He clamped down the lid and then turned to the neared Jamie, shutting off his communicator briefly.

"Get this to the Blackbird," he told him. "There's a freezer in the aft section: this should fit in there. If it doesn't, make room."

"Don't tell me you left your car unlocked?" Jamie teased him.

"Remote control."

"Ahh."

"Scat, I've got work to do," Gambit dismissed him and walked out of the freezer, reactivating his communicator. "Stand clear."

He put his hands on the door frame and watched as he sent out streams of kinetic energy through the room, until everything was glowing with bright magenta light. It might have been better to do it by sight, but he needed to measure the charge exactly. After all, he only wanted to destroy their stores, not bring the building down on top of them. Gambit paused for only a second once he stopped charging, then bolted. He got clear just as the explosion went off with a devastating _boom_.

* * *

X-23 almost purred in triumph as at last a pair of her claws finally ran through Rogue. Her victory was short-lived, however, for at the same moment Rogue touched her cheek and absorbed her. Rogue pushed herself free of X-23's claws, the two wounds in her side healing up instantly. For a moment, Rogue was disoriented as X-23's mind reacted to the trigger scent in the air, but Rogue managed to retain control. She was rather pleased with that victory. There was a time when she wouldn't have been able to prevent X-23's mind from taking over briefly.

Still, there were some benefits to having X-23's (or Logan's) sense of smell. Rogue turned and her eyes caught those of the missing scientist, Dr Zander Rice. He froze like a deer caught in headlights. Rogue growled.

"I'm not afraid of you," Dr Rice said determinedly.

x-x-x

_X-23—or Laura as Dr Sarah Kinney called her when no one was around to overhear—laid on the operating table. Dr Rice looked down on her._

_"Do you even feel pain, Weapon X?" he asked._

_And then he removed her claws._

x-x-x

Two bone claws emerged from each of Rogue's hands. In a trice she was up and over the desk, backing him into a corner. If the change of gender wasn't enough of a clue, the change in claw configuration was enough proof that they had meddled with Logan's DNA sample.

"Tell me," Rogue said darkly. "What is with you scientists and no anaesthetic?"

_"Chère?"_ Gambit queried over the comm-link.

"X-23's a weapon, not a person," Dr Rice replied.

"You're not a person either," Rogue responded, and after a swift kick in the stomach to force him to the ground added: "You're a monster."

"Says the one with claws," he sneered at her.

"You know what they say," Rogue replied, pinning his arms behind him and straddling him. "It's the inside that counts."

Dr Rice's eyes widened as Rogue aimed her claws at his stomach. As if in slow motion, Rogue drove her fist towards him, only to retract her claws at the last second, only punching him instead of stabbing him in the gut.

"Multiple?" Rogue said, her smirking eyes not leaving Dr Rice's face. "Take our little friend to join the others. And be careful. He's soiled himself."

* * *

"Psylocke?" Jamie reported. "We've got incoming."

Betsy looked where direction and saw the influx of guards appear. She spread her hands and her psi-blades appeared.

"You'd think they'd have a clue by now," Betsy muttered as she entered the fray.

These guys were different, Betsy quickly learned as she attempted to drive her blades through the guards. Too late she realised their skins were pale, even white. Her psi-blades couldn't effect them and Betsy teleported into the shadows to buy herself time. If Mentis Compesco was made from the DNA of Emma's clone daughters, and they were telepaths, was it possible that they too might have a diamond form? If so, then her blades would have no psychic effect on them. Ah well, no matter. That's where Kwannon's ninja training came in useful.

Useful, but unfortunately, not a cure-all. Jamie, who was also well-versed in multiple martial arts—was also having a hard time standing up to the partially diamond skinned, telepathy-shielded, super-strong guards. Her psi-blades cut through their clothes, but their skin remained impervious to their touch.

Betsy was getting tired.

A series of playing cards, sparkling with magenta light, flew through the air, exploded and drove back the artificially powered guards.

"You looked like you could use some help, chérie," Gambit said, his staff extended and another hand of cards already glowing.

"Took you long enough," Betsy snapped. "We've got Mentis OD's over here."

It was hard to follow Gambit as he entered the fray. He was almost a blur as he danced amongst the guards. His kinetic charged may not have hurt them, but they certainly had plenty of knockback.

"Well now," Gambit said as a trickle of blood caught his attention. "Seems your diamond form is only skin deep, mon ami."

"Gambit?" Betsy questioned as she stepped back as she saw the skins of all the guards begin to take on a magenta shadow.

"Good thing I can charge living tissue now, no?" Gambit said.

Betsy teleported and the charge... popped. The thin diamond layer blew off every guard, disabling half of them just from the skin loss and rendering every one of them bald.

"What?" Gambit questioned as Betsy reappeared and he thwacked two nearby guards with his staff. "You didn't think I'd just blow them all to smithereens did you?"

"The thought had occurred to me," Betsy replied as she stabbed a guard through the neck with her psionic dagger.

"Non, that would be way too easy," Gambit dismissed. "Besides, murder is more of my ex-fiancee's thing."

* * *

Rogue wrung out her wet hair and checked up on X-23. The girl looked up at her apprehensively, but the moment passed and Rogue decided she must have washed off all the scent after all.

"Laura," Rogue said gently. "I need you to come with me."

"On a mission?" Laura asked.

"Something like that yes, I—" Rogue cut herself off, recognising a room from her absorbed memories.

Rogue stepped towards the door. It was locked, but Rogue new the code to enter. She stepped inside and her eyes fell on the largest—and only—store of adamanitum she'd ever seen. Of course, they'd used it on X-23 to coat her claws and were planning on doing her bones as well when she had matured, so it made sense. Still, it was one thing to know they had it, and quite another to actually see it.

In the middle of a room was a boiling pot of liquid adamanitum and on the shelves a number of good-sized rocks of the raw material.

"Psylocke," Rogue said. "When you have a second, I need your help with something."

The liquid stuff would be useless once it was cooled, and Rogue doubted that the X-men would ever have any real need to process adamantium, but the metal was just too valuable to leave lying around, especially in the hands of those who thought a suitable use for it was turning little girls into living weapons. It wouldn't do for the Brotherhood—Magneto in particular—to learn of this store either, in Rogue's opinion.

Rogue shut the door and X-23 watched curiously while she located a large beaker and began to fill it with the liquid adamantium. Best to take this too, just in case one of the Jamies spotted this room and Magneto found out about it after all. She was filling up a third beaker with the last of it when Betsy appeared.

"Right, I have a moment what—" Betsy began and then continued telepathically when Rogue put her finger to her lips. _"What's all this about?"_

_"This is adamantium,"_ Rogue thought, knowing Betsy would pick up her message. _"Are you able to teleport it to the Blackbird without the Brotherhood finding out?"_

_"It would take multiple trips," _Betsy considered as she looked around. _"But the Blackbird isn't so far away that my re-entry accuracy would be impaired by the additional mass. Just don't ask me to take any people. We already ruled that option out for transporting the people downstairs. Remy's picking locks and the Jamies are carrying everyone up."_

_"Good. Would you mind?"_ Rogue asked. _"The mix of Magneto and an indestructible metal makes me nervous."_

Betsy laughed at that.

* * *

"Hey Flea," Gambit said gently as he opened up the cell. "We're going to get you out of here."

"G-gambit?" Flea stammered weakly.

"Oui, mon ami, it's Gambit," he replied. "You're safe now."

Flea closed his eyes again and Gambit picked him up and handed him over to the two Jamies who would take him out of the complex. Gambit headed to the next cell and release Angelica. It was then that Gambit realised he'd gotten to the end of the cells.

Gambit made his way back down the hall and into the next room where he stopped short and whistled. there were beds lining the wall, most of them full, and each occupant was strapped down and had so many needles poking out of them they looked like giant pincushions.

"Mon dieu," Gambit said as he looked at the five identical younger versions of Emma. "If I was into the multiple, identical women thing, I'd be in heaven right about now. Except that they're far more modest than their mother. Granted, they probably have no choice in their clothes down here... I wonder if fashion sense is hereditary?"

"Are you checking out other women, Remy?" Rogue asked as she walked up behind him, X-23 at her side.

"The acupuncture look never worked for me," he replied with a grin and kissed her lips gently. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Laura," Rogue replied. "Laura, this is Gambit."

"Nice to meet you, petite," Gambit replied. "So, Roguey, I don't suppose you happen to know if we can just unhook everyone? Or do we have to shut something down first?"

"We have to shut stuff down," Rogue replied and headed to the nearest computer. "Fortunately, I have the codes."

Gambit waited until Rogue finished shutting the system down and gave him and the Jamies in the room the go ahead to start unplugging everyone.

"They've all had the mild case of Legacy," Rogue informed them, "so they should have enough protection from the second version. We should drop them off at Muir Island. Moira will have better facilities to attend them and give them the therapy they need to recover than we can."

"D'accord."

* * *

Magneto and Mystique deactivated their communicators as they entered the head office. A man with diamond skin looked coldly back at them.

"Stryfe," Magneto said, "of Stryfe Group. Named your company after yourself; how gauche."

"I'm not afraid of you," Stryfe replied with absolute calm.

"No, you wouldn't be with that much Mentis Compesco in your system. Look out the window, Stryfe," Magneto said expansively, pointing out the window at the burning warehouse. "Your world in in flames."

"Others will continue where I have left off," Stryfe said as metal band wrapped around his body and lifted him out of his chair.

Mystique took Stryfe's chair and tapped away at the computer.

"No doubt," Magneto replied evenly. "You homo sapiens will refuse to take a hint. However you will not live to see it."

Stryfe didn't even scream as the sharpened metal ran through his eye.

* * *

A little later:

"The Blackbird is just about full," Gambit told Magneto. "We can take a couple more, but that's about it. Do you have enough room for the rest?"

Magneto surveyed the Brotherhood, the X-men, and the many sick or otherwise incapacitated people on the group.

"Yes," he replied. "We'll meet you at Muir Island. We know the way there, so there's no need to wait."

"Probably cut down on unloading demands at the other end too," Gambit replied with a nod. "See you there."

He picked up a boy, one of the missing students, and carried him into the Blackbird. Rogue helped Gambit get him settled, and then Gambit directed a couple of Jamie's in with the next one.

"Okay, that's all we can take," Betsy said.

"D'accord," Gambit said. "Let's get going."

Gambit and Rogue took the pilot and co-pilot seats respectively, while Betsy stood at the back, prepared to keep an eye on everyone and make sure they stayed secure. X-23 sat quietly next to Rogue, looking around the Blackbird with interest. Of their other passengers, only the three younger Guthrie kids, Jeb, Melody and Jay (who was sporting a pair of wings much like Warren), were the only ones who weren't down with Legacy or otherwise incapacitated by DNA harvesting. All three had been exposed to the virus though , and they had to assume it was in its incubating and possibly infectious stage.

"They're sure taking their time loading up," Rogue mused as she glanced out the window.

"It's probably all Multiples," Gambit replied. "Just seems that way."

"Maybe," Rogue shrugged and glanced down at X-23. "How you holding up, sugar?"

X-23 blinked at her.

"How are you feeling, Laura?" Rogue tried again.

"I am well," X-23 replied.

"May as well get comfortable. This trip is going to take a couple of hours."


	59. The Cure for Legacy

**AN: **Gordon Lefferts and Burke are both comic canon.

I would also like to take this moment to say I'm not a doctor and that I have no idea whatsoever if Moira's solution is even remotely feasible/realistic. I tried looking stuff up but it all went right over my head so for anyone who does know more about this kind of stuff than me, I hope I haven't mangled the facts so much it makes you wince and go "It could never work that way. My ability to suspend my sense of disbelief has now been shattered by your obvious ignorance." Because that would make me sad. I'm perfectly happy to be corrected. What can I say? I read comic books, not medical journals, hehehe.

Also, the very talented aiRo25 offered to write a one-shot in honour of this story reading over 1000 reviews, which of course I took her up on because she's awesome: "An Innocent Misunderstanding"

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 58: The Cure for Legacy**

Moira looked down at the disc Rogue placed in her hand.

"What's this then?" she asked curiously.

"All the data they had on their little screw up we're calling the Legacy virus," Rogue replied. "Think it might help you find a cure? I've got the Head of Research in my head, if you want me to help."

"Right now, I'll take all the help I can get," Moira replied. "Come, we'll look at this in my office."

Rogue followed Moira inside while Gambit and Betsy continued unloading their ill passengers. There was going to be some doubling up required, but they had the beds. Not long after they were finished with the Blackbird, the Brotherhood arrived with the rest.

* * *

Some hours later:

The tap at the door broke Moira and Rogue from their discussion.

"Come in," Moira said sharply.

"Bon jour," Gambit said as he opened the door. "Sorry to interrupt, but ahh... Roguey... There isn't exactly a danger room, or even much of a gym around here..."

"What, you didn't get enough of a workout at the Stryfe complex?" Rogue teased him as she walked over.

"Actually I got a great work out, but it's four in the morning now," Gambit replied.

"Oh my, it is too," Moira exclaimed as she looked at the clock.

"Hmm," Rogue considered as she drained off Gambit's excess energy. "We should probably get some sleep."

"Indeed," Moira agreed. "We'll probably concentrate all the better for it."

* * *

Rogue gave a cry as her eyes shot open and the last vestiges of X-23's memories faded from her dreams. She was panting heavily and a cold sweat dripped down her face.

"Roguey?" Gambit mumbled softly. "You 'kay, chère?"

Rogue was quiet for a moment before she replied: "Just a bad dream. No, just a bad memory."

Gambit shuffled over. He wrapped his arm over her and kissed her cheek softly.

"You're safe now, ma chère," he replied gently. "You'll always be safe with me."

* * *

"I need to know something," Moria said, addressing the X-men and the Brotherhood later on when they were all wide awake. "Who amongst you has had Legacy?"

Pryo, Wanda, Pietro, Avalanche and Jamie responded in the affirmative.

"And who had the Cure?"

Rogue, Gambit, Magneto and Mystique spoke up. Moira glanced at Betsy.

"This body doesn't have an x-gene. Long story," Betsy replied.

"So, anyone who got the Cure, didn't get Legacy," Rogue realised.

"The five last healthy students at Xaviers," Gambit said. "Did they all get the Cure too?"

"I believe so," Rogue replied. "And I know at least a couple of the healthy kids who went home got it too."

"Here's what I think has happened," Moira said seriously. "The Cure and the Legacy virus both start with young Jimmy's DNA and initially the same line of research, even if in the end they went off in different directions. When you were given the Cure, your systems rejected it, creating antibodies to counteract it. Because the Cure and Legacy had the same roots, those antibodies were enough to provide you with immunity against the Legacy virus. If you don't mind, I'd like some samples of your blood. If I'm correct, you for may hold the cure for the Legacy virus in your veins."

"What about Paint?" Gambit asked, frowning. "Wasn't everyone using her for a pincushion for the same reason?"

"Paint got used as a pincushion?" Pyro asked.

"The virus mutated," Moira explained. "We tried using the antibodies from Paint's blood, but they had no effect. I'm hoping the antibodies in your systems—as you never got it at all—will work."

"Okay," Rogue said, standing up and holding how her arm. "Let's do this."

* * *

Rogue looked in on Rahne and Tracy through the window while Moira and one of her nurses set up the drips. Rogue approached as they exited and stripped off their gowns, gloves and masks.

"How long before we know?" Rogue asked.

"It'll take a few hours before it complete circulates," Moira replied. "It's going to be awhile before we see the results."

Rogue nodded.

"And then we'll have another problem if this works," Moira went on. "Getting enough antibodies to treat everyone."

* * *

"Have you reconsidered my offer?" Magneto inquired of Betsy where she stood on the balcony, looking out at the ocean.

"To join the Brotherhood?" Betsy replied. "No. I still have much training to do... and I'm seeing someone."

"Ahh."

"We're working together now, the Brotherhood and the X-men, but that can change at a moment's notice, as we've both seen already," Betsy went on. "I think it would be a conflict of interest."

"If things between you and this... young man don't work out," Magneto said seriously, "the offer will still be open."

"For as long as you still need a telepath anyway?" Betsy suggested. "I have to admit, I am tempted. I like the way the Brotherhood gets things done, but now is not the time, and I wouldn't bank on that time coming, were I you, Magneto."

* * *

"Hey Pyro," Rogue said as she stepped into the library. "Whatcha do—"

"Yah!" Pyro yelped, practically jumping in his seat. He looked back and look at Rogue. "Rogue! You! Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry," Rogue said apologetically as she approached Pyro and the computer he was working at. "Whatcha doing?"

"Oh, uhh, looking at porn," Pyro replied. "Please don't tell Wanda. She'd kill me if she knew I was looking at the bodies of other naked women."

"Uh huh," Rogue drawled. "I thought you liked angry sex?"

"Not when she's angry at me!" Pyro replied.

"If you're looking at porn," Rogue went on, "why is there writing on the screen and not these pictures you're so interested in?"

"Hmm, oh that?" Pyro said, glanced at the screen and then quickly hit another button. "There's the porn. I just had the other screen ready in case someone walked in on me. Very sneaky, aren't I?"

Rogue make a clicking noise with her tongue as she gave him an amused look.

"You wouldn't happen to be writing another novel, would you?" she asked.

"Me? A novel?" Pyro asked innocently. "No, no, Joanna's the novelist in our family."

"Yeah, just what is her relation to you anyway?"

"Cousin."

"Would you mind doing me a favour?" Rogue asked sweetly. "Can you let her know that I loved her new book?"

"I can do that," Pyro replied with an enthusiastic nod.

"Oh and tell her thanks for autographing it for me."

"No problem."

"And also tell her," Rogue went on smugly, "that she did a brilliant job of matching your hand writing."

Pyro paused. Rogue smirked.

"Damn," Pyro muttered. "I didn't think of that."

"Plus I've noticed that there's lots of incidences of fire in 'Joanna's stories," Rogue added. "I just wish I'd remembered earlier that you enjoyed writing."

"Yeah, well, umm... I'm writing under a pseudonym for a reason," Pyro nodded.

"I kinda guessed that," Rogue replied. "Don't worry, I won't blab it around. I might tell Remy though."

"Remy?"

"Oh, sorry, that's Gambit's first name."

"Ahh. It's tricky being on this codename/first name basis thing, huh?"

"Yep. Actually it was kinda funny. He was being snarky when your book arrived and suggested you might have signed it yourself," Rogue mused. "He gets a little...possessive sometimes. Usually it's just new guys or whatever, even amongst our own physical age group. But it's cute, almost a turn-on kinda possessiveness. Not 'I can't even be friends with male relatives', which is good, 'cause if it was, I'd have to kick his ass."

Pyro laughed.

"What do you mean, your own physical age group though?" he asked curiously. "Does this have something to do with you dating a younger guy?"

"Oh right," Rogue said after a pause. "I forgot you didn't know."

"Know what?" Pyro inquired cheekily. "How Stormy lets you get away with dating one of the students? Yeah, I have no idea how you've worked that one."

"It's not quite like that," Rogue replied with a giggle. "Just...how old do you think he is?"

"Late teens."

"He's forty-three."

Pyro stared at Rogue.

"Forty-three," he repeated.

"Uh huh," Rogue nodded.

"As opposed to twenty-three, which is what you are?"

"Actually my new birth certificate says I'm seventeen," Rogue replied with a smirk. "Remy's new birth certificate says he's seventeen as well. Look, it's a bit of a long story, and I'm trusting you don't to blab it around, okay?"

"You know me," Pryo replied cheerfully. "I love stories. Fire away, I won't spread it around."

"Okay, so you know how Remy got Cured? That wasn't his idea, by the way, it got used as a weapon against him," Rogue said. "Anyway, he was one of the one percent of mutants that had side-effects."

"Oooh," Pyro winced. "I've heard stories about those side-effects."

"Well, it made Remy age rapidly. When he showed up on our doorstep he was this old man. He was aging like, ten years in a week," Rogue explained. "And then went the Cure worse off, he started regressing—reversing in age. We couldn't explain it at the time, but Remy generates bio-kinetic energy, and this energy enhances his speed and agility and stuff, and fuels his healing factor. Because the Cure wearing off tended to send people's powers into over-drive, Remy de-aged past his actual age to a point in his development before he could generate enough energy to sustain the regression."

Pyro blinked.

"He kept regressing until he ran out of fuel?" he asked.

"Uhh, yes that."

"Okay then. So, how do you fit into this?"

"Well, we didn't know he was regressing when the Cure wore off. We just knew that he was in a lot of pain and none of our sedatives were working except for gas and we ran out of that, so I, uhh, kinda put him in a coma," Rogue replied and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.

"But wouldn't that mean that you...oh," Pyro replied. "How long did you have his powers for?"

"Six hours. It sucked," Rogue said. "Not an experience either of us would care to repeat, but regressing did reset my powers and we found out why I couldn't control 'em so we were able to fix that so yay."

Pyro chuckled.

"And yeah," Rogue said. "That's the story of how I reversed in age six years and why I'm dating a guy who's both my age, and twenty years older at the same time."

"Wow," Pryo said, shaking his head. "Hey, how'd Bobby take it?"

"Well, after he woke up from the coma—"

"What coma?"

"Oh, well, when the Cure wore off I kinda absorbed him and put him in a coma for two months."

"Well that sucks."

"And he didn't really handle me being thirteen again well at all. We broke up," Rogue told him. "But I think it worked out for the best. We're still friends and everything."

"He got Legacy too?" Pyro asked.

"Yeah and we couldn't get him into a power dampening field fast enough. I am not kidding," Rogue said seriously, although not without a smirk, "in the time it took for Logan to get Bobby from his room to the med lab, Logan got frostbite and Bobby iced the fire escape—we couldn't risk using the elevator in case Bobby froze it over. There was ice everywhere; it was nuts."

"Really? I would have thought it would have been cold and slippery," Pyro replied with a grin.

"That too."

* * *

Moira put down the phone with a heavy heart and made her way to Tracy and Rahne's room to check up on them. Both showed noticeable improvement although that good news did little to lighten her mood. She contacted Rogue, Gambit, Mystique and Magneto for a meeting and the rest of their teams joined them, more out of curiosity than anything else.

The X-men arrived first and to them Moira shared the recent news she had received:

"Evelyn contacted me not half an hour ago," Moira said. "I'm sorry to tell you, Gordon Lefferts and Burke have died."

"Oh those poor boys," Betsy said as Rogue slumped in her seat and closed her eyes.

"Merde," Gambit said, having actually taught both of them. "Please tell me this antibody thing is working?"

"I was just about to ask the same question," Magneto said and he and his entered the room.

"Aye I was," Moira replied. "Tracy and Rahne are improving rapidly, although it will be awhile before they have fully recovered."

"So you want more?"

"Yes, and for you to contact anyone else you know who my have been Cured. We need all the antibodies we can get—and soon—before anyone else dies."

"Will duplicated antibodies work?" asked Rogue, looking up at her.

"I don't follow?" Moira queried.

"Multiple over here," Rogue said, pointing at Jamie. "He can create duplicates of himself. Will duplicated antibodies work?"

"I never got Cured though," Jamie piped up.

"But I did," Rogue replied, looking between Jamie and Moira. "If duplicated antibodies will work, I can absorb Jamie and create all the donors we need."

"I, well, as long as the antibodies stay active after the duplicate they came from have gone, I see no reason why not," Moira replied. "We'd have to do a test first but that shouldn't take long."

"Do you mind if I absorb you?" Rogue asked Jamie.

"Guess not," he replied.

Jamie held out his hand and Rogue touched it, absorbing him only briefly. She took a moment to orient herself and then created a single duplicate.

"So Roguey," Gambit said mischievously. "After your dupe has donated, I could think of a few fun things we could do together."

"I thought you said you weren't into that kind of thing?" Rogue replied dryly.

"I could make an exception for you and you."

* * *

As soon as Rogue's duplicate antibodies passed the test, Rogue created enough duplicates to supply all the Legacy-infected mutants at Muir Island. This done, the X-men and the Brotherhood returned to Xaviers to do the same there. The Brotherhood pretty much had to come, given that Rogue needed to absorb Jamie again in order to create the fresh set of duplicates at the mansion. The families of the different ones who had been abducted or were otherwise sick with Legacy were also contacted.

There was, however, one person on whom the antibodies, duplicated or otherwise, would not work. Jimmy.

"The boy has to die," Magneto said, "and his body burned. It's the only way to prevent a resurgence."

"Trust you to have that attitude," Rogue snapped. "The only life you care about is your own. If you had it your way, Jimmy would have died four years ago."

"And if he had, at least three people would still be alive today," Magneto replied.

"You cannot blame Jimmy for that!" Rogue exploded. "You can't blame Jimmy for having the mutation he has. He didn't choose that, no more than I chose to be a life-sucking leech. You can't blame Jimmy for people using him, just like _you_, I might add, tried to use _me_."

"Jimmy might die anyway, Rogue," Moira said over the comm-link. "Giving him the antibodies would probably kill him, and if he does get better, it'll probably be a sign that Legacy has mutated."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? What's wrong with you people?" Rogue exclaimed. "Can't he get a break, just for once? He was finally getting his powers under control too, and now this has to happen? He gets his DNA harvested twice, ends up becoming a deadly virus, spent the last four years trying to cope with the fact that every mutant gets depowered whenever they're around him. That wasn't easy on him you know! Some kids outright avoided him or treated him like crap. He didn't deserve that. He didn't deserve any of that!"

"Chère," Gambit said gently. "You know I like Jimmy, I do. He's a good kid, but...but right now there's nothing we can really do for him. His DNA is the base for both the Cure and the Legacy virus. If there was a way to save him, I'd love to know about it, but it's not like we can change his DNA."

"Aye, it would be nice if we could," Moira agreed. "You wouldn't even need to change it by much. Just a couple of key sequences should be sufficient for the antibodies to work without killing him. Unfortunately, that technology doesn't exist."

"Actually," Rogue said, pulling at her white streak and looking towards Magneto, "it does. Magneto, your machine, the one you made me operate on Ellis Island; it _changed_ my DNA. According to Hank it made some minor alterations, activated some recessives. This albino streak is the most obvious evidence of that."

"Do you know what sequences it changed?" Moira asked excitedly. "If it won't change the correct sequences it won't work."

"Yeah, there's sample of my DNA in the computer both before and after," Rogue nodded. "Magneto, if you can rebuild your machine—"

"Forget it," Magneto replied firmly. "I will not pander to your foolish desire to save him. You're risking another outbreak of Legacy, one we may not survive."

"No," Moira replied. "We'll keep in him quarantine until the danger has—"

"This meeting is over," Magneto cut in and stood up. "Multiple will stay with you for as long as you need the extra antibodies. The rest of us are leaving."

Betsy reached out with her telekinesis and grabbed hold of Magneto in the middle of his walk out the door. She dragged him across the floor to Rogue, who touched his face as soon as he was in range.

x-x-x

_Magneto watched as the Blackbird flew off._

_"All right Avalanche," he said. "The X-men are gone. Take care of our little problem."_

_"Yes sir," Avalanche replied._

_Magneto watched with satisfaction as Avalanche created a massive earthquake, rocking the ground around and beneath the complex and bringing it all crashing down, destroying everything—and everyone—that may have been left inside._

x-x-x

Pietro zipped past and hauled his father out of her hand but it was already too late. Rogue already had the information she needed.

"Rogue!" Pyro exclaimed.

"I'm a life-sucking leech," Rogue replied calmly. "What did you expect me to do? Besides, the first time I absorbed him, it was his idea."

"You can't do this," Pyro said. "Look, I'm sorry about Jimmy, but Buckethead is right."

"Buckethead?" Gambit repeated with a snicker under his breath.

"Saving him is dangerous to all of us," Pyro insisted.

"Got that right," Avalanche agreed.

"I think," Mystique said, "that we have over-stayed our welcome. The X-men have started taking what doesn't belong to them."

"A fine line coming from you," Rogue snapped.

"The machine is useless to them anyway," Mystique went on as Magneto revived. "Rogue's absorbed powers will only last so long, and the machine cannot be run without the Master of Magnetism."

* * *

Rogue didn't waste any time. Mystique was right; her absorbed powers would only last so long. While Evelyn got into the computer and passed on Rogue's file to Moira to study, Rogue reconstructed the machine as quickly as efficiently as she could. She just got the last of it in place as Magneto's powers wore off.

After that, Rogue engaged in a good long, technical discussion with Moira, trying to figure out if the machine would do what they wanted it to do. As Forge was coherent enough by then, Rogue asked him if she could absorb him again—Forge was fine with that—and his psyche and powers entered the discussion.

It took a couple of days to work the kinks out, by which time many of those with Legacy were well on their way to recovery, but in the end they had come up with a way to do it. They even figured out how to power the machine without a single mutant having to enter the room.

"Moi?" Gambit said.

"Who else?" Rogue grinned at him. "You can do it by sight and you have energy to spare. It doesn't have to be powered by Magneto, it just needs a lot of power. We designed a converter. You just have to focus on that, and it'll take care of the rest."

Gambit considered for a moment.

"You're the one who put all this together, Roguey. You sure you don't want to do it? You seem to have better control over my powers than I do," he said.

"Nope, it's cool," Rogue replied. "This baby needs a lot of power and we all know you have that. You want to keep the power going until the last minute, that being about there, just before it reaches the window. Trust me, after having powered one of these machines before, you're probably about the only one here with enough power to do it without killing yourself."

Gambit nodded slowly.

"Okay," he agreed.

"Great," Rogue replied.

"You don't sound very enthusiastic," Gambit replied with a slight grin.

Rogue sighed and shook her head.

"I guess I'm kinda wondering if I did the right thing, y'know, absorbing Magneto and stealing his machine plans even after he said 'no'," Rogue admitted. "I mean, I absolutely believe we're doing the right thing by trying to save Jimmy, and it's not like we're just going to release him back into the public unless we're beyond certain that we're not going to get a resurgence of the Legacy virus, it's just..."

"You're pondering whether your method of obtaining the information and skills required was ethical or not," Gambit finished.

"Yeah," Rogue replied. "And I kinda feel stupid, because I absorbed people at the Stryfe complex without asking or anything, I just took what I needed, And when Forge was sick I just absorbed him for the information for the power dampeners without asking. And I mean, I was trying to save lives on all occasions, I just... Why am I questioning myself this time?"

Gambit let out a long slow breath.

"I'm not really sure I'm the best one to talk to about the morality of stealing, chère," he said. "But maybe it's because Buckethead—"

Rogue giggled.

"What? I thought it was a great nickname," Gambit said. "Anyway, maybe it was because Buckethead was an ally at that point, who decided that this was a bad plan and he wanted nothing to do with it, and you absorbed him knowing that. If Forge had been in the right frame of mind, I'm sure he wouldn't have had a problem with it, and as far as the people at the complex are concerned, it was war."

"Yeah. I just... I guess it's really easy for me to sympathise with Jimmy," Rogue said. "I mean, sometimes I think Magneto's philosophy is 'sacrifice the one to save the many, as long as the one isn't me'."

Gambit chuckled.

"I've been his 'one' before," Rogue said fiercely. "And now Jimmy's the 'one', and he doesn't deserve any of this, Remy. I don't see why he shouldn't be allowed to have a normal life. You don't see Jimmy going around deciding who should live and who should die."

"Not disputing that," Gambit replied. "But I thought we were talking about if the ends justifies the means."

Rogue sighed and smiled wryly.

"Probably not this time," she said. "When you have the person you've stolen from in your head, deciding that he would have done the same thing were our roles reversed, you know you've done the wrong thing."

"Stooping to his level, huh chère?"

"Yep."

"If it makes you feel any better," Gambit said seriously. "I like that you questioned yourself about this. I wouldn't have bothered."

Rogue laughed softly.

"So," Gambit went on, rubbing his hands together. "When do I haul out the sledgehammer?"

"Whenever you're feeling charged up, I guess," Rogue replied.

"Hmm," Gambit considered. "I should be at dangerous levels in about an hour. I'll hang around here though. Don't want to accidentally slip and charge up a person again."


	60. I Wanna Be A Mutant

**Chapter 59: I Wanna Be A Mutant**

An hour later, give or late a few minutes, Gambit focused on the converter and sent forth a tentative stream of energy towards it. He had no idea how this converter was supposed to work, given that his kinetic energy was generally used to blow things up, but a grin pulled at his face when he saw the converter suck away the charge. Interesting.

He increased the flow of energy, slowly but steadily increasing it. The rings of the machine began to swing, faster and faster until a white cloud began to emerge. Gambit propped himself up against the window. The cloud hadn't even reached Jimmy yet. He pumped out more and more energy.

"You sure this is going to work?" Logan asked Rogue.

Logan was the first to be awarded a clean bill of health. Others with healing factors and other mutations that enhanced their health were swiftly following. Naturally the first thing Logan had done was to check up on Storm and Kendall, both of whom were doing better.

"It had better," Rogue said. "I have a leading geneticist—before Magneto had him killed—the original designer of this machine, and Forge in my head. If it doesn't, I'm gonna cry."

Logan chuckled.

"Hey has anyone thought to introduce to you Laura yet?" Rogue asked.

"Who?"

"I'll take that as a no."

Conversation halted then as the cloud grew larger, finally engulfing Jimmy. Sweat beads were forming on Gambit's face as he continued to pump energy into the converter. The cloud reached the window and Gambit dropped, shutting off the stream of power.

"Remy?" Rogue asked, rushing to his side. "You okay, sugar?"

"Oui, oui, I'm fine," he assured her. "It's just it usually takes me three hours on the Swarm at level ten to use up that much energy. Did it work?"

"They're gonna wait until the radiation levels go down," Rogue said. "And then they'll go in and do a DNA test."

"Bon."

Logan tapped Gambit on the shoulder.

"Did I hear you right?" Logan asked as Gambit turned to look at him. "The Swarm, level ten, three hours?"

"Oui," Gambit replied with a smug grin.

"Hmph," Logan said. "You need to try harder, Squeaky. I can last four."

* * *

"Now you try," Paint said to X-23.

X-23 looked down at the paper and the coloured pencils warily. Slowly she reached out and picked up a brown pencil. She drew a line on the paper in front of her.

"Yay," Paint cheered.

X-23 looked up at Paint, then back down at the paper. She drew another line. She stopped, sniffed and then lifted her head once more, but this time she looked at the door towards the man that smelled a lot like her, and Rogue.

"Laura," Rogue said gently. "I have someone I want you to meet. This is Logan. Logan, this is Laura. Stryfe called her 'X-23', and according to the data we downloaded from their computers before we left, she's your clone. Sort of. They didn't have a whole sample of your DNA and they needed to make some modifications. The Y-chromosome was damages for one thing, so they duped the X, but yeah."

Slowly X-23 got up from her seat and walked over to this 'Logan'. Logan knelt down to her eye level and they looked at each other. For a time neither said anything, and just when Rogue was feeling like things were getting awkward, Logan finally spoke:

"What you drawing there, kid?" he asked.

"Pinocchio," X-23 replied.

"Pinocchio?" Logan repeated, having not expected that answer. "Is he the wooden puppet whose nose kept growing every time he told a lie?"

"Yes," X-23 replied as she returned to the table. "Dr Kinney used to read to me about him. She would bring in a new page every day and read it in between sections of _The Art of War_."

Logan glanced over at Rogue, who shook her head.

"Dr Kinney was the one who named her Laura," Rogue explained quietly. "She was her...mother. I'm afraid she's no longer with us."

Logan nodded in acknowledgement and watched while X-23 attempted to draw Pinocchio while Paint tried to help and offer advice.

"Huh. You ever draw anything before?" Logan asked X-23 after watching her struggle with it.

"No," X-23 replied.

"Maybe you should start with something simpler and work your way up from that.

X-23 frowned. "Like what?"

"I like flowers," Paint said. "You could try drawing a flower. They're easy. And stars."

X-23 looked between them, looking like she felt out of her depth.

"What does a flower look like?" she asked.

* * *

"Is it just me," Rogue said as she looked in through the window, "or does Jimmy have green skin?"

Gambit glanced over. Jimmy's skin did appear to have a greenish tint to it.

"Non, looks green to me too, chère," he said. "Guess that's proof it worked, huh?"

"Hmm," was Rogue's only response as they stepped into Hank's office and spotted the comm link up already. "Hi Moira."

"Hi Rogue," Moira replied. "I've just finished going over the DNA test results and we're in luck. Jimmy's DNA didn't change quite the way we were expecting it to, but it did change in enough of the right places."

"Enough so the antibodies will work?" Rogue asked hopefully.

"Aye, they should work," Moira confirmed. "We'll need to keep him in quarantine, even after Legacy has been purged from his system to make sure it doesn't adapt, mind, so don't you start getting all excited prematurely."

"I understand," Rogue replied with a smile.

* * *

They just stepped out of the office after talking to Moira and found Betsy standing there.

"How'd it go?" Betsy asked.

"We just got the go ahead to give Jimmy the antibodies," Rogue said happily.

"That's great," Betsy said. "So...so the machine successfully altered his DNA?"

"Oui," Gambit confirmed.

"Do...do you suppose it could alter mine?" Betsy asked quietly.

"Alter yours?" Rogue asked with a frown. "What for?"

"She wants her original body back," Gambit said.

"Oh... Betsy, I'm sorry, sugar," Rogue said sympathetically. "I'm afraid the machine can only work with what's there. It can't be used to change a body of Japanese decent into one of European decent. Not unless you got really lucky on the recessives. Besides, the last time this machine got used on someone without an x-gene, they died."

"Right well," Betsy said looking away. "Worth a try, anyway."

"Your kids are another story though," Gambit said smugly.

"What do you mean?" Betsy asked the same time Rogue said: "The machine can't do that to her kids any more than it can do it to her."

"Oh, I wasn't talking about the machine," Gambit gloated. "I was talking about her original genes. I was going to save this for a Christmas present, but since it's come up..."

"Since what's come up?" Betsy asked as Gambit put his arm over her shoulder.

"Walk this way, chérie," Gambit said cheerfully. "You might remember our recent visit to Stryfe?"

"Yes..." Betsy replied slowly as a puzzled Rogue followed them.

"Well, before I blew up the DNA bank, I took the liberty of hacking into their computers," Gambit said as he lead them to the freezer section of the mad lab. "I figured if they had Emma's samples from her time incarcerated by Stryker, they might have other samples."

"Wait... so you..." Betsy stammered. "_That's_ why you took so long!"

"Actually to be honest, I was curious to see if they had anything of me, despite my attempts to prevent that. I was there two years before I could destroy them, so they might have. Anyway, while I was in there," Gambit said with a smug grin as he opened up the door and drew Betsy inside. "I found you."

Gambit pointed to a drawer clearly labelled "Betsy Braddock".

"Ova sample," he said. "No blood, no hair, no marrow, just this. I don't know if it's any good after all this time, but you never know. Option's there anyway. You know, if you ever decide you want to have kids. I know how attached you are to your original body."

For a moment Betsy was silent, then a big smile formed on her face and she hugged Gambit fiercely.

"I can't believe it," she said. "I really can't believe it. Thank you, Remy. Thank you so much."

* * *

"Kitty," Pete said.

Kitty looked up from her bed to see the drawn face on her husband.

"Hi sweetie," she said as he approached her side. "How are you feeling? I see they've let you out of bed."

Pete nodded.

"Illyana... She..." Pete swallowed and took a breath. "She died."

Kitty pressed her hand to her mouth.

"Oh no," she said. "No, you're not... She's not... Is she?"

"I just got the news," Pete said. "They're having the funeral tomorrow. Remy offered to fly me over in the Blackbird so I could make it."

"Yes, of course," Kitty said quickly. "Of course you have to go. Send my love to everyone. Evelyn's not letting me out of bed because of the baby, but... Oh, Pete I'm so sorry."

She held out her arms and Pete moved gratefully into them and cried.

* * *

The number of recoveries increased rapidly with every day. When the assistance from the community was no longer required, that same weekend Xaviers invited everyone who had helped over for a party to show their appreciation.

Gambit took over the kitchen for the occasion. He'd been banned by the volunteers for the duration, given that they didn't know if he had Legacy or if he was in danger of contaminating the food with it, therefore making things worse for already sick patients. It was therefore with much delight that he cooked for everyone who had been cooking for them for what felt like forever, but had actually been just short of four weeks from the arrival of the first volunteer to the departure of the last.

Of course, his physical age could have been another reason why Gambit had been banned from the kitchen. Rogue lost count of the number of women, impressed with his cooking prowess, told her that her boyfriend was really rather good in the kitchen and to hang onto this one.

It was only now, during the party, that Storm learned the true extent of what had been happening while she was sick. There had been a staggering number of volunteers who had given up their time over the past few weeks to help care for them. There were also an astonishing number of people who prepared food at home or in groups and had it transported to save the volunteers and the last of the healthy residents from having to worry about that part themselves. Storm was amazed to find out that even the local high school chipped in, and ended up in an in-depth discussion with the principal on having combined school events.

"Well, you're strange neighbours," observed one. "Can't seem to turn around without getting freaky weather or something blowing up, but you keep your messes to yourselves—most of the time. On those occasions where things go beyond the fence, you're always good about cleaning things up."

"Bobby! We're running out of ice!" called Rusty from the collection of drink-filled eskies.

"On it," Bobby replied.

He trotted over to the eskies where he added more ice, much to the combined interest and delight to the observers.

"That's so cool," said a nearby teenager. "Hey, what else can you do?"

"Ask not what I can do..." Bobby said and then pointed, "but whether Jubes will entertain us with some fireworks."

"Thanks for volunteering me," Jubilee said cynically.

"You're welcome," Bobby replied.

Jubilee looked around, rubbed her hands together and them pointed them up in the air and shot of a round of fire works.

"Yah!"

"Hey, awesome!"

"Do it again! Do it again!"

"Save it for later when it's dark," Logan 'suggested'.

A little girl tugged at Warren's hand and he turned his head from his conversation to look at her.

"Are you an angel?" she asked.

"Uhh, no," Warren replied, uncomfortable with the question as usual.

"Oh. I like your wings," she went on. "They're pretty."

"Well, thank you."

"Can you take me for a ride?" she asked. "Please?"

"A ride?" Warren replied with a blink.

"Yeah! I wanna fly!" she said with her hands pressed together and big, round eyes. "Please? Pretty please?"

"Oh uh... maybe you should ask your parents if it's okay first," Warren replied.

A few minutes later:

"Is Warren giving that little girl a ride?" Angelica said, looking up at Warren flying through the air with the girl in his arms.

"Yep," Rogue confirmed with a nod.

"Big mistake," Sam said sagely. "He's going to be inundated with little kids all wanting a ride as well."

Rogue chuckled and headed inside.

"Where are you going?" Angelica asked after her.

"To change my shirt," Rogue called back.

As Sam predicted, as soon as Warren landed there was a whole crowd of little kids (and not-so-little kids) all wanting to go flying as well. Warren looked seriously uncomfortable with all the attention and pulled a face at Betsy when he caught her laughing at him.

Rogue returned wearing a backless top while Warren was in the air and located Jamie.

"Hey Jamie," she said. "Mind if I borrow you for a second?"

"Uhh, I guess not," Jamie replied. "Why?"

"I thought I might give flyboy over here a hand," Rogue said, pointing her thumb at Warren.

Jamie chuckled. Rogue absorbed him for a moment, thanked him and then made her way to what passed for a clearing in the crowd. She waved to Warren.

"Hey! Warren!" she called. "Wanna hand?"

Warren's mutation included enhanced eyesight and hearing, and he had no problem in making out Rogue's words. He handed by her as he deposited the young boy on the ground, Rogue held out her hand.

"If you don't mind me absorbing you, I can take the flights off your hands," she offered.

"Oh, sure," Warren replied as he placed his hand in hers. "If you don't mind."

"Not gonna bother me in the slightest," Rogue replied smugly.

She absorbed Warren briefly and warned the kids to stand back. She let go and while Warren reoriented himself, the crowd watched as a pair of identical wings sprung from Rogue's back. Rogue wriggled a little, feeling her bones shift, becoming hollow and lighter.

"Whoa cool," someone said.

"Hey chère!" Gambit called from the food side of the party. "I always knew you were an angel!"

"And now," Rogue replied with a smirk and clapping her hands together to create four duplicates, "I'm a chorus of angels."

"Neat trick," Warren said.

"Thank you," Rogue replied, grinning merrily as she created more than enough duplicates to take the eager young pilots (and not so young pilots) on their requested flights.

"How long will it last?" Warren asked her.

"About half an hour, give or take a few minutes," Rogue replied with a shrug. "Should be plenty of time for them to get flying around out of their system."

Warren chuckled.

"Hey, thanks," he said.

"What else are power borrowers for?" Rogue asked.

"Are you certain that, ahem, showing off like that is wise?" Storm enquired as she and Rogue closed the distance between each other.

Rogue shrugged. "They already know I can borrow powers. Me absorbing Jamie is how we got enough antibodies to cure everyone."

Storm conceded the point with a slight nod of her head.

"And," she asked cautiously, "you have control now? I thought you had to wait until next year?"

"Okay," Rogue said, clasping her hands together. "When I absorbed David, it was before my powers matured enough to know what to do with his psyche. For lack of a signpost, he just plonked himself down in the worst possible spot. Like... I don't know, he decided to lean against the wall right in front of the light switch where I couldn't find it or something. Because I could never get to that light switch, then no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't turn my powers on and off. When my mutation got reset, Emma figured out the signpost was missing which was why she wanted me to hold off on absorbing anyone as long as possible: she wanted to give my mutation the biggest window possible to build the signpost."

"And once the signpost was built, your psyches knew where to go and you could find the light switch," Storm finished.

"Exactly. Of course, the irony here is that I could have probably touched all the people I wanted the last few months," Rogue said. "It was just that with David, I didn't know I was a mutant, let alone what I could do, so I didn't know that I needed to turn anything off. Worst timing ever. On the bright side, I've spent the last six years studying power control, even if for three of those years I didn't have any active powers at all. I'm getting to apply—really apply—all that study now and it's rather nice to finally know what I'm doing."

"I'm sure it is," Storm agreed. "Logan said something about you helping Remy now?"

"Heh, yeah sometimes I think I know his powers better than he does," Rogue replied with a smirk. "I have thirty years worth of bad habits to break him of, but don't you worry, I'll fix him before he starts charging any more people."

"So it was definitely you that he charged? Not just your clothes?" Storm inquired.

"Definitely me," Rogue confirmed. "Good thing for me, the larger the target, the longer it takes to charge so I didn't blow up instantly like the small slips he's had around the place. That's why we always notice if he's slipped up charging something big, and don't notice the little stuff until it's already blown. It's actually been very interesting having use of Remy's powers. Even just... Well, for example, how he sees the world is really very cool, but to him he's always seen the world like that. It's like if you're the only one in the world who can see the colour pink or something. You don't know that other people can't see pink, and even if you did, how could you even begin to explain it? I know that Emma and Betsy can get into peoples heads and see things and help them with their powers that way, but that was never really an option for Remy."

"Hmm," Storm considered and then glanced over at someone who was trying to attract her attention. "We'll talk more later."

"All right," Rogue agreed.

Jubilee did produce more fireworks when dark fell, and as the evening drew to a close, everyone began to pack up and leave. Logan, with his keen hearing, overheard the little girl who first asked Warren for a ride say sleepily as she was carried to the car: "Daddy, when I grow up, I wanna be a mutant."


	61. Circles

**Chapter 60: Circles**

Jimmy stared down at his hands and scrubbed them together tentatively. He had green skin. He could hear the alien and zombie jokes already.

Everything had been explained to him; how they had to change his DNA before the antibodies would work without killing him because the blood that had been stolen from him over a year ago had ended up being used to make the Legacy virus.

He didn't need this. He wished everyone would just leave him be. On one end of the spectrum there were the people who wanted to use him for his mutation and on the other end people who were afraid of and even hated him for it.

Jimmy had finally started to get control too and now this had to happen. Moira said that an alteration to his x-gene had been necessary, without which the entire experiment would have been useless. They hadn't even been certain they were going to get that as Rogue's x-gene hadn't been altered at all when she had been in the machine herself. Moira had told him the change was minor (says the one who didn't have green skin) and that it shouldn't effect his ability to get his powers under control.

Jimmy leaned back in the chair and sighed. He was still in quarantine. No one with an x-gene came in here, and anyone who did come in suited up first just in case the Legacy virus had decided to mutate into a third strain. This was worse than at Worthington Labs.

He had a computer. That was different from Worthington Labs, although Jimmy wondered if they only gave him one so that the teachers could email him his school work. His friends would come online and chat with him, which was nice, but it wasn't the same as actually getting out there.

He hoped and dreaded that they would let him out soon.

* * *

Gambit glared at the targets on the carnival booth.

"I hate this," he muttered.

"I was getting that impression," Rogue said dryly.

"And I think you've been getting way too much delight out of my pain," he added.

"I'm not getting any delight out of it," Rogue replied. "Well, okay maybe at first, but now it's just sad."

"Thanks a lot," Gambit said. "Can't we make the targets bigger or something?"

"Nope."

"But—"

"You need to use more energy to charge the larger targets, Swamp Rat," Rogue pointed out. "We're trying to train you to use less. We know you can use less. We have the data from your power monitor to prove it."

Gambit sighed and seven of the fifteen targets promptly blew up.

"And that was just you being frustrated," Rogue said wryly. "Although points for only getting half instead of all of them. Must be improving."

"Don't patronise me," Gambit snapped.

"We should do something different," Rogue considered, ignoring Gambit's display of ill temper. "Let's see... Computer: End program and run Shooting Gallery Three, level six and pause."

The carnival booth disappeared and was replaced with a wild west themed town.

"Haven't seen this one before," Gambit said.

"Since you're so fond of Space Invaders," Rogue mused. "When I unpause the game—and feel free to increase or decrease the level at your whim—you're going to have a bunch of different people appear. Some will be baddies who will shoot at you, and some will be innocent bystanders."

"Ahh, I get points for shooting the baddies and lose them for the innocent bystanders," Gambit said.

"Yep," Rogue replied. "And the computer will count it if you shoot a baddie and the blast hits an innocent bystander as well. Everything moves quickly so you don't have a lot of time to generate much of a charge. Game ends when you get shot three times, but as I'm in here as well, the computer will count me as a target, so there'll be extra baddies. You're just going to have to protect both of us, sugar."

"Rescuing damsels in distress is my speciality," Gambit joked.

Rogue snickered and told the computer to start. Gambit grinned as the people began to appear. Many would randomly appear on roofs, behind windows and in doorways, but some would actually take the time to walk and run across the street or from door way to door way. It certainly made things more interesting.

Something else that amused Gambit was that after people got shot a score would appear above their head. Green numbers for a baddie and red ones for the innocent bystanders. Unfortunately, he seemed to get a lot of innocent bystanders—not intentionally, but just from baddie splatter and ricochet. As a result, by the time they got to 'Game Over' his score was so low, Gambit looked away and Rogue stared in shock.

"Wow," she said. "I thought level six would be easy for you."

"It would be if I was using cards instead of sight," Gambit muttered.

"That's because you know how to control those, sugar," Rogue pointed out. "We're trying to teach you how to control the things you _can't_ control, remember? C'mon, try it again, and don't linger on the targets so much. Computer: Reset."

Gambit did marginally better the second time around, but wasn't much encouraged. In his frustration, he blew up half the set.

"Got that out of your system now?" Rogue asked dryly. "Look, Remy, the targets are very sensitive. You honestly don't need to use that much power."

"I'd like to see you do any better," Gambit snapped.

"Okay," Rogue replied, reached out to absorb him for a couple of seconds and as her eyes changed to red on black said: "Computer: Reset."

The game started, the set restored and Rogue began. At first Gambit was a little put out that Rogue managed to hit the targets without accidentally hitting innocent bystanders with 'baddie splatter'. 'Put out' quickly turned into 'embarrassed' when he realised that Rogue had not only surpassed his score (not that that was much of an achievement) but was also lasting long time-wise than he did.

The baddies and innocent bystanders started appearing faster and faster. Rogue whirled around on the spot, regularly doing 360's in an effort to make sure that none of the baddies shot either of them. Eventually they did get shot the six times that heralded the 'Game Over', of course, by which point Gambit wasn't willing to look at Rogue.

"Cool," Rogue said as her score came up on the screen. "I got the high score. I even beat Domino's score for this level and she _wrote_ the program."

"One of Domino's is it?" Gambit asked. "Should have guessed."

Rogue chuckled and walked up behind Gambit, wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Oui," she confirmed. "Also, I love using your powers, mon cher. They're awesome."

"I really think I should be feeling emasculated right now," he muttered as he rested his hands over hers. "My girlfriend uses my powers better than I do."

Rogue laughed and rested her head on his back.

"Aww, you can do that too," she said. "I wouldn't be able to if it wasn't possible for you to do it as well. You should act like, umm, you're a King surveying the peasants, y'know, because they're beneath you and not even worth looking at. Fleeting glances like that."

Gambit chuckled.

"Wanna try again?" Rogue asked. "Or call it a break for today?"

"Computer: Reset," Gambit said.

Rogue chuckled and moved out of his way. The game began again and Rogue began grinning broadly when she realised he wasn't accidentally hitting the innocent bystanders so much.

Gambit grumbled at the low score when the game came to an end.

"What are you upset about?" Rogue demanded. "You did way better this time. You just doubled your last score _and_ you lasted longer."

"Oui, but it wasn't my score I was trying to beat."

* * *

"So," said Bobby as he and Rogue put in the small and big blinds, "does anyone know when Jimmy's getting out?"

"Make it sound like he's getting out of prison," Jubilee said.

"He probably feels like he's in prison," Gambit observed as he dealt out two cards to everyone for their game of Texas Hold 'em.

"Moira wanted him to stay in for thirty days after he got the antibodies," Rogue said. "So not until October at the earliest."

"Poor kid," said Betsy. "He's looked at himself in the mirror and seen a stranger. I really feel for him."

"So his skin's changed colour, big deal," Bobby said.

"It is a big deal, Bobby," Betsy said sharply. "He didn't go to the beach or a solarium or something and get a tan. He hasn't used body paint either or had plastic surgery. His skin pigment has changed and he didn't have a choice in it. How would you like it if you woke up in the morning and discovered that you'd permanently acquired blue hair, or scales, or yellow eyes? You wouldn't recognise yourself."

"Okay so," Jubilee cut in then, "I call."

"Look, Betsy, I get what you're saying—" Bobby began.

Betsy snorted rudely.

"—but Jimmy'll get used to having green skin. Besides, it's not the weirdest mutation we've seen and we do have image inducers," Bobby finished.

"Raise 4," Warren said. "What is the weirdest mutation we've seen, Bobby?"

Bobby paused and looked around the table, sensing he'd opened a can of worms.

"What?" he said ingeniously. "It's not obvious? Mine, of course."

"Call," Betsy said with a roll of her eyes. "You're such an idiot, Bobby."

"Call," said Gambit, putting his chips in the middle. "What's happened to Jimmy is a scar, Bobby. Rogue's white streak is a scar, me losing my eyes after Stryker got to me was a scar—"

"Call," Rogue said.

"Me being in Kwannon's body is a scar," Betsy muttered.

"Call," Bobby said. "Okay, I get it, I get it. I just think that if a change of skin colour is the worst thing that Jimmy gets out of this, then he'll be all right. That's all I meant."

"Call," Jubilee said.

"I think technically he should be kept in there for three or four months," Rogue said as Gambit dealt the Flop, "'cause that's how long we think Legacy was incubating for—"

"Ouch," Bobby said.

"Check," Rogue said after a glance at the three cards in the middle and continued: "But that's a long time to be in solitary confinement. Hank and Moira think they should be able to tell if there is anything before then though. Apparently Tracy's dad, Sean, and Jeb, Melody, and Jay Guthrie were all able to be tested positive for Legacy before any symptoms showed up."

"Check," said Bobby, as did Jubilee a second later.

"It's a waiting game," Warren said. "Raise 2."

"Yeah," Rogue agreed.

"Call," said Betsy.

"Fold," said Gambit. "All I know is that the alternate was death, and I don't know about you guys, but after enduring three of them within a few days of each other, I don't really care for going to a fourth."

"Call," Rogue said. "Amen to that."

"Call," said Bobby.

"Call. So question," Jubilee said. "Xaviers got invaded, right? How did they know where our escape routes were?"

"Raise 2," Rogue said after Gambit dealt the Turn. "Craig told them."

"Fold," said Bobby. "Craig?"

"Uh huh," Rogue confirmed with a nod.

"Call," said Jubilee. "Right, because we would have told him when he first came here for safety reasons."

"Call," said Warren. "So that's why you and Logan have been looking at upgrading security, Remy?"

"Oui," Gambit replied. "It's tricky because they're _escape routes_. You use 'em in case of emergency, and you don't want to be dealing with security protocols when you're running to safety."

"Call," said Betsy. "Yes, I can see how that would be a problem."

Gambit dealt the fifth and final card next to the fourth community card in the middle.

"Raise 2," Rogue said. "He also provided them with names, addresses and powers, which was why a third of our people who went home over the summer got abducted."

"Fold," said Jubilee. "I did notice that most of the people who got taken had more passive and physical abilities."

"Call," said Warren.

"Yeah, they picked them out deliberately," Rogue said.

"Call," Betsy said. "Of course, then they started coming down with Legacy. They figured it was the best time to come after us, hence the invasion. At first I thought they must have let Paint escape, you know to deliberately infect everyone."

There was a pause in the conversation while cards were revealed. Rogue won with four of a kind, and gathered the cards up.

"They were getting a little concerned at not being able to cure anyone," Rogue added as she shuffled the cards. "And there were a few abilities here they definitely wanted to get. They really wanted to get Domino. They wanted to make a 'luck potion'."

There was some snickering at that. Bobby and Jubilee put in the blinds.

"Here's what I don't understand though," Betsy said. "Didn't the Brotherhood say they wanted someone with a healing factor so they could make 'instant cures'? They had Laura. Why didn't they use her?"

"Because what they had of Logan's DNA was corrupted," Rogue replied. "Until they had a, ahem, working prototype, they couldn't be sure the healing factor would even function properly. Then too, Logan has his other abilities—claws and feral senses—which make his DNA more suitable for a weapons program. What they really wanted was someone with a healing factor and either no other mutation or a pacific one."

"Makes sense," Betsy considered while Rogue dealt. "After all, overdosing on the Mentis did cause them to gain diamond skin."

"Where are, umm, Emma's daughters anyway?" Bobby asked.

"They're still on Muir Island with the rest of them," Gambit said. "They're all getting therapy to help them recoup after all the DNA harvesting. Over all they were apparently kept in pretty good shape physically."

"Probably to maximise the harvest," Betsy muttered.

"Fold," said Warren.

"Call," said Betsy.

"Call. Of course, for the ones who spent most, if not all, of their lives in the labs," Gambit went on mischievously, "they need to learn about these things called 'social lives'. They'll probably end up here eventually."

"Call," Rogue said.

"Besides, the Cuckoos are telepaths. Where else are they going to get good training?" Betsy said.

"Call," said Bobby.

"Cuckoos?" Jubilee repeated. "Oh, and I fold."

"Yeah, that's what they got nicknamed: The Stepford Cuckoos, because Stepford Industries were the ones that had control over Stryker's DNA bank when Stryfe acquired them," Rogue explained and dealt the Flop.

"Weird," Bobby said. "Check."

"Check," said Betsy.

"So, changing the subject completely," Warren said, looking at Bobby and Jubilee. "Are you two a thing yet?"

"What? No!" Jubilee objected quickly. "Why would we be a thing? Where would you get a crazy idea like that?"

"Raise 2," Gambit said.

"Because Bobby's room is next to mine," Warren replied calmly.

"Call," Rogue said, sounding amused while Jubilee spluttered.

"That doesn't mean anything!" Jubilee exclaimed.

"Call," Bobby said.

"They've been doing each other for months now, mon ami," Gambit said casually. "By the way, Bobby, your poker face is getting better."

"Thanks," Bobby replied.

"Call," Betsy said.

"I just love the way you can keep a straight face while your lover freaks out about being found out and denies, denies, denies," Gambit went on cheerfully.

Rogue snickered as she dealt the Turn.

"Fold," Bobby said. "I was pretty impressed with myself too."

"Check," said Betsy. "Aren't you always impressed with yourself?"

"Well, I am fairly impressive," Bobby said with a grin.

"Love your modesty too," Gambit said. "Raise 2."

"You're just as modest," Rogue pointed out. "Call."

"But I really am that impressive," Gambit replied.

"Call," said Betsy.

"We're not lovers!" Jubilee insisted, almost choking on the word. "We're just friends!"

"Oui," Gambit said, waggling his eyebrows at Jubilee while Rogue dealt the River. "With benefits."

"Give it a rest, Jubes," Betsy said. "Raise 2."

"Raise 4," Gambit said. "You may as well just admit it, Firecracker. You two have been going at it just about everywhere. The gazebo, the maths room, the janitor's closet, Bobby's car—"

"Fold," Rogue said while Jubilee freaked out.

"Should I be concerned that you know all that?" Bobby asked.

"Bobby! Don't _admit_ it!" Jubilee exclaimed.

"Jubes, we've been sprung," Bobby pointed out. "There's no point in denying it any more."

"Please," Gambit said scornfully. "Stormy didn't ask me to teach sex ed on a whim. I've mastered the art of covering up after a quickie and you don't do that unless you know what the signs are to begin with."

"Call," said Betsy.

They paused long enough to compare cards. Gambit's full house beat Betsy's flush. Bobby picked up the cards and began to shuffle.

"How long have you been teaching sex ed for now anyway?" asked Bobby.

"Hmm, well Roguey and I are coming up to our fourth anniversary—" Gambit said.

"Wow," Jubilee interjected, "has it been that long?"

"—so that would be about four years," Gambit mused. "Wow, I never used to stay in the same place for more than a couple of months. Well, except for N'Awlins, of course. While we're on the subject, Roguey?"

"Yeah?" Rogue replied.

"Don't absorb me between now and our anniversary unless it's an emergency," Gambit said. "I have a surprise for you."

"Oooh," Rogue said with a smile, "I love surprises."

* * *

A couple of weeks later, Gambit held out his hand to help Rogue onto the roof. She didn't really need it, but she let him help her anyway.

"Why are we up here, Remy?" she asked and then her eyes laid on a picnic blanket spread out on a flat part of the roof, complete with basket. "Aww."

Gambit chuckled and sat down with her on the blanket.

"There you go, Roguey," he said expansively, spreading his arm out to the horizon. "Best view in the house."

"On the house, you mean," Rogue said with a smirk.

"You like it."

"Yep."

Gambit pulled the food out of the basket and filled the two wine glasses with his choice for the evening. There was a companionable silence while they ate.

"I'd give you your anniversary present," Rogue said, "but I left it in my room. I didn't realise we were going to be on the roof tonight or I would have... Actually I might not have."

"Oh yeah?" Gambit inquired in amusement.

"It's a DVD," Rogue explained. "Not a shirt."

"Fair enough. Well, I have your present," Gambit said while he pulled a small box out of the basket. "Roguey?"

"Yeah?" she asked, curious at the nervous expression that appeared on Gambit's face.

"Well, I used to think there was no point to these things, but I..." Gambit trailed off, uncertain how to finish. "Anyway, umm, happy fourth anniversary."

"Thanks," Rogue replied as she accepted the small box.

Rogue pulled away the wrapping paper. Why he was getting so nervous over what was certainly another piece of jewellery, she had no idea. He'd never gotten nervous about giving her such things before, so unless he was giving her a—

"Well," Gambit said quickly once Rogue had dropped the wrapping paper but before she could open the box. "It's not an anniversary present exactly. I mean, you don't have to accept this one if you don't want to. I'll understand."

Rogue glanced up at Gambit and then back down to the box which she tentatively opened to reveal a silver ring with three hearts woven into the band. Gambit clasped his hands around hers.

"If my powers weren't out of control right now," he explained softly, "that would be an engagement ring in there and I'd be asking you to marry me."

Rogue caught her breath and lifted her head to meet his eyes.

"But...but I don't," Gambit went on seriously, holding her gaze. "And I always figured engagements were for people who were actually planning a wedding. Rogue, I love you, and I... I don't want to worry about blowing up the guests at our wedding or anything. So I just... I wanted you to know what my intentions are. You know, _without_ you absorbing me."

Rogue cracked a smile and kissed his lips gently. He closed his eyes and kissed her back.

"I love you too," she said. "And yes."

"Yes?" Gambit repeated hopefully.

"Yes," Rogue confirmed with a grin.

"You...you don't mind me waiting?" he asked.

Rogue shrugged as Gambit pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it onto her finger.

"We have to wait until next year before we could legally tie the knot anyway," she pointed out, "and I can't say I really like the idea of you blowing anyone up either."

"Bon," Gambit replied.

He kissed her finger and then cupped her face in his hands and kissed Rogue more thoroughly.

* * *

**AN: **cappsy actually suggested a promise ring as something Gambit might have left in the secret compartment of the jewellery box he gave Rogue. I thought it was a little too early in their relationship for Gambit to consider something like that then, but obviously, I filed away the idea for future reference, hehe.


	62. 30 Days

**AN: **All French is done by way of internet translators.

* * *

**Chapter 61: 30 Days**

Gambit knocked on the door and at Jimmy's "Come in", entered the room.

"Bonjour mon ami," Gambit said cheerfully.

Jimmy looked up and stared.

"Aren't you supposed to be suited up?" he asked in surprise at seeing someone's actual face for the first time in a month.

"Nope," Gambit replied as he sat down beside him. "I'm here to play guinea pig."

"Guinea pig?" Jimmy repeated.

"Oui. I got the Cure and I have a light healing factor," Gambit said. "They figured if you were infectious, I'm the one most likely to survive, so here I am."

"They're keeping me in here, aren't they?" Jimmy asked with a sigh.

"Oh it's far, far worse than that mon ami," Gambit replied. "I'm your new room mate."

"_Room mate!_" Jimmy exclaimed and it was only then that he realised that Gambit had brought in a bag.

"That's exactly what I said, with that exact same inflection," Gambit nodded. "And then I added that it was a very stupid idea what with me not being able to control my powers and that on top of the fact that I can now blow up people, but then they pointed out that you can turn my powers off and Forge added insult to injury by converting the converter."

"What converter?" Jimmy asked.

"The one they're going to bring in after they've finish suiting up," Gambit replied. "We used it so I could power Magneto's machine, and now Forge has modified it so I can now power the mansion. Personally, I think this is all a ploy just so they can get free electricity. Seriously, can you imagine what the bill must be like for powering the danger room alone?"

Jimmy laughed at that.

"Actually it's not that bad apparently," Gambit said. "Mostly because we have our own generators, of which it now turns out I'm one. Anyway, this thing isn't noisy, so it shouldn't irritate you any."

"Okay, cool," Jimmy said and scratched his head. "So, uhh, how long are we going to be sharing for?"

"Thirty days," Gambit replied as he pulled out his laptop and set it down on the table. "On the bright side, Betsy speaks French, so she's going to be taking over my classes for the next month."

"What about sex ed?" Jimmy asked.

"Well, the semester was delayed to begin with, so I'm just going to do both courses after Christmas," Gambit said with a shrug. "Be happy to help you with your homework though."

"Ahh, you know about that."

"Oui."

* * *

Day 2:

Jimmy woke up and rolled over in his bed to see glanced over at Gambit sitting on his with his eyes closed and his feet pressed together.

"You meditate too?" Jimmy asked, surprised.

"It's a recent development," Gambit replied, still with his eyes closed. "Rogue thinks it'll help me get 'in touch with my powers'. Personally, I just feel like a big dork."

Jimmy laughed.

"Yeah, so do I," he agreed as he sat up in bed.

"Meditating help you any?" Gambit asked curiously.

"A little, I guess," Jimmy admitted ruefully. "I don't really do it that often though. Sharing a room and all."

Gambit chuckled and opened his eyes to grin at Jimmy. "I won't tell if you won't."

* * *

Day 5:

"Well," Gambit said into the phone, "right now I'm staring into the converter, watching it suck up all my charge. Well, not _all_ my charge."

"You have such a dirty mind," Rogue replied.

"It can get dirtier," Gambit said cheerfully. "I think maybe you should—"

"Don't forget Jimmy's in there," Rogue cut in.

"Oh yeah," Gambit grinned slyly. "So, what are you wearing?"

"Remy!" Rogue exclaimed.

"That sounds sexy," Gambit went on, pretending not to notice Jimmy turning to stare at him. "Okay, first I'm unbuttoning your blouse—"

"I swear, Swamp Rat—"

"With my teeth—"

"If you don't stop this _right now—"_

"And then I'm—"

"I'm going to hang up—"

"Pulling your blouse off your shoulders—"

"And not call you back for the rest of the month—"

"And letting it fall to the floor while I—"

"And I won't answer any of your calls either."

"Aww, but Roguey I was having fun," Gambit complained. "Plus, you should see the embarrassed look on Jimmy's face."

"I'm not embarrassed!" Jimmy objected.

"You aren't?" Gambit asked. "I was attempting to have phone sex with my girlfriend while you're in earshot and you're not embarrassed?"

"Uhh..."

"A man after my own heart."

"Remy?" said Rogue. "You have so many issues, it's not funny."

Gambit laughed anyway.

* * *

Day 10:

"Would you stop doing that!" Jimmy exploded.

Gambit looked up at Jimmy in surprise.

"Stop doing what?" Gambit asked.

"That! With the cards! It's annoying!" Jimmy said, pointing hard at the cards in Gambit's hand. "Always with the cards."

"Hmm? Oh," Gambit said. "Désolé, mon ami. This is what they call a 'mannerism' and a 'habit', and a long standing one at that."

"And the French! Either speak English or French, not both at the same time!"

"Très bien, je parlerai dans le français tout le temps et verrai combien de temps il prend avant que vous êtes énervés quand vous ne pouvez pas comprendre un mot je dis," Gambit replied mischievously. " Et je vous enseigne le français, donc je sais exactement combien de la langue vous comprenez, mon ami."

["Very well, I shall speak in French all the time and see how long it takes before you get frustrated when you can't understand a word I'm saying," Gambit replied mischievously. "And I teach you French, so I know exactly how much of the language you understand, my friend."]

"Casse-toi!"

"Pourquoi est cela personne n'a aucuns problèmes se souvenant jurent des mots?" ["Why is it no one has any problems remembering swear words?"]

"Up yours," Jimmy snapped and turned back to his computer.

"Renoncé déjà?" Gambit asked, amused. ["Given up already?"]

Silence followed and Gambit, not being one to pass up the opportunity to annoy someone, wandered over and leaned over Jimmy's shoulder. He promptly began to read aloud everything that Jimmy was reading—in French—until Jimmy exploded once again.

"Would you stop that!"

"Is being confined getting to you, mon ami?" Gambit asked, grinning broadly.

"Yes! Do you have any idea how long I've been stuck in this stupid room?" Jimmy shouted.

"Oui. I even remember the day when you came in," Gambit replied mildly. "You were so sick, I doubt _you_ remember that much."

"Good for you," Jimmy said sarcastically. "Just go away."

"Can't," Gambit replied. "I'm stuck in here with you remember? For another _twenty_ days. Twenty of them. That's one day short of a full three weeks. By the time we get out of here, we'll be halfway through November. It'll be almost Thanksgiving."

"Not helping!"

"Who said I was trying to help?"

"Argh!"

Gambit chuckled and as he straightened up, he sprung his cards from hand to hand. Jimmy banged his head on the desk.

"Try not to kill any brain cells, mon ami," Gambit said.

"How can you be so calm?" Jimmy demanded. "You've never been someone who could just sit still. I'm surprised you're not going stir crazy too."

"Would you like me to let you in on my secret?" Gambit asked after a moment's pause.

"Anything to stop me going insane," Jimmy replied.

"What you need to do is give yourself a goal," Gambit said, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "It has to be something big that you can work towards. That way you expend all your time and energy focusing on how you're going to accomplish your goal, and not on how caged in you feel."

"Oh," Jimmy said. "Like what?"

"Well, when I was being held by Stryker my goal was to escape," Gambit mused. "That's not really an option here though. And there was this one time when I...erm, never mind. Anything to do with games of chance helps too."

"What's your goal in here?" Jimmy asked.

Gambit grinned at him. Jimmy sighed in irritation.

"You are so annoying," Jimmy grumbled.

"I know," Gambit said smugly. "I have it down to a fine art, don't I? Actually I've accomplished my goal and I'm in the market for a new one. Just today in fact. I wanted to see how soon I could provoke you to anger."

"Wait...you distracted yourself from going stir crazy by annoying me?" Jimmy exclaimed.

"Oui," Gambit replied merrily. "It wasn't really that hard. Confined quarters like this, we were bound to get sick of each other's company eventually. Every little thing about the other person starts to grate. We may even come to blows. Hmm... maybe I should make that my next goal: see if I can annoy you so much you hit me."

"Why?" Jimmy asked incredulously. "Why would you do that? Why would you want me to hit you?"

"I don't actually _want_ to be hit, mind you," Gambit said. "But I do it because it's entertaining. Well, entertaining for me any way. Oh, you know what? That should be your goal: seeing if you can annoy me so much I hit you. Who will hit who first? It'll be fun."

"Fun," Jimmy repeated.

"Oui."

"You're insane."

"It's entirely possible," Gambit replied and pulled out his phone. "Is calling Roguey going to annoy you? Because I'm going to anyway."

Jimmy didn't reply, only stared at the computer as Gambit walked off to the other end of the room and dialled. Gambit would have to be the strangest person he had ever met. There was also no way he could provoke Gambit into hitting him. Nothing ever seemed to annoy Gambit, and if anything ever did, no one could tell. The whole idea was crazy.

Still, trying to find ways to annoy Gambit would probably keep his mind off being stuck in here pretty well.

With a smile on his face and a new sense of purpose, Jimmy contacted his friends online:

_Hey guys. I'm looking for ways to annoy the crap out of Gambit. Any ideas?_

This was going to be interesting.

* * *

Jimmy had no idea how far those simple words would spread. Before the day was out "How to annoy Gambit" was the primary topic of discussion throughout the mansion. It was widely discussed during dinner, with many of the opinion that it couldn't be done, while others were determined not to be deterred.

"We should make him look after one of the electronic babies," Hellion said.

"Yeah, but that would annoy Jimmy too," Sally pointed out. "Also you just want revenge because Gambit made you look after two."

"Not the point," Hellion insisted.

"We're supposed to be thinking of things Jimmy can do to Gambit to annoy him," Rusty mused. "He could play bad music."

"Or the same song over and over again," Rictor agreed.

* * *

Day Eleven:

"_This is the song that never ends_," Jimmy sang.  
"_It just goes on and on my friend  
Some people started singing it not knowing what it was  
And they'll continue singing it forever just because  
It is the song that never ends_."

Gambit glanced up from his computer.

"Having fun there, Jimmy?" he asked.

"Yep," Jimmy replied and continued singing. "_Some people started singing it not knowing that it was_."

"Huh," Gambit mused.

He looked at Jimmy for awhile and then went back to the computer, and wondered how long it took before Jimmy got bored. He was surfing the net for an hour before he realised Jimmy was still going.

"I'm impressed with your persistence," Gambit nodded.

Jimmy kept singing, a little annoyed that he wasn't annoying Gambit. He'd even gone to all the trouble of setting up the webcam so his friends could see how it went. He became even more annoyed when Gambit joined in. Mischief danced in Gambit's eyes.

Their little sing-a-long continued for another hour (much to the combined amazement and disgust of those who checked in on the video every few minutes to see how it was going) before Gambit began singing it in French just to make things interesting. This continued for another half-hour—neither being willing to admit defeat—when Evelyn arrived to run the daily tests on both of them.

Evelyn was the one who got annoyed.

"You can start up again when I'm done," she informed them both firmly. "Right now you can both be quiet and let me work."

"D'accord," Gambit replied.

While Evelyn checked up on Jimmy, Gambit looked up the song "Anything you can do, I can do better" on youtube and set it to play. Evelyn rolled her eyes and Jimmy poked his tongue out at Gambit's smug face.

The Evelyn left. The two drank, tended to their business and then:

"_I know a song that'll get on your nerves_," Jimmy sang.  
"_Get on your nerves  
Get on your nerves  
I know a song that'll get on your nerves  
Get on your nerves  
Get on your nerves  
I know a song that'll get on your nerves._"

Not to be outdone, Gambit also began to sing:

"_1000 bottles of beer on the wall  
1000 bottles of beer  
Take one down  
Pass it around  
999 bottles of beer on the wall_

_999 bottles of beer on the wall  
999 bottles of beer  
Take one down  
Pass it around  
998 bottles of beer on the wall_"

The strange battle continued, regularly viewed by those in the mansion (but only for a few minutes at a time—it was fairly annoying). Some even began to take bets on who would crack first.

Four hours later:

"_One bottle of beer on the wall  
One bottle of beer  
Take one down  
Pass it around  
No bottles of beer on the wallllllllll!_" Gambit sang with a grand flourish to end.

"_I know a song that'll get on your nerves  
Get on your nerves  
Get on your nerves  
I know a song that'll get on your nerves_," Jimmy continued singing, hopeful that this would mark the end of Gambit's singing for the day.

Gambit cleared his throat, has a drink of water and:

"_1000 green bottles standing on the wall  
1000 green bottles standing on the wall  
And if one of those bottles should accidentally fall  
There'll be 999 green bottles standing on the wall_," he sang.

"Argh!" Jimmy exclaimed. "Fine! Okay! You win!"

Gambit stopped and gave Jimmy an innocent look.

"Were we in a competition, mon ami?"

* * *

Day Twelve:

"Do you hear that?" Jimmy asked.

"Hear what?" Gambit asked.

"Never mind," Jimmy replied. "It's gone now."

Gambit shrugged and went back to what he was doing on the computer.

"There it is again," Jimmy said after a few minutes.

"What?" Gambit asked.

"Nope, it's gone again," Jimmy replied.

Gambit raised an eyebrow. "Right."

Conversation ceased once more while the two continued with their own things. Then Jimmy spoke up once more:

"There! Hear that?" Jimmy said.

"Hear..." Gambit paused. "Oui, I do."

"You do?" Jimmy asked cautiously, knowing perfectly well that there was no noise.

"Oui," Gambit nodded.

"Oh well, at least I know I'm not hearing things."

"D'accord. Especially at the way it kept disappearing."

"Right."

Silence.

"There it is again," Gambit said after a couple of minutes.

"Yeah," Jimmy said. "Don't you just wish it would shut up?"

"Nah, it's not really bothering me."

"Does anything bother you?"

Gambit chuckled.

* * *

"Oooooh!" Bobby exclaimed, having watched this. "Yes! I've got it!"

After he got over the initial excitement of his idea, Bobby emailed Jimmy, and then bounded down to the med lab after going through his box of gags.

"Evelyn?" Bobby said.

"Yes, Bobby?" Evelyn replied, looking up from her desk.

"When you drop dinner off to Jimmy and Remy, can you pass this to Jimmy?" Bobby asked, handing over the item in question. "Make sure Remy doesn't see it. Please?"

"Don't tell me you're getting in on this 'annoying' war too?" Evelyn said.

"Sure, why not?" Bobby asked, grinning broadly. "It's fun. Please? I already told Jimmy to expect it."

Evelyn sighed. "Fine."

* * *

Jimmy waited until Gambit's next trip to the adjoining bathroom, then activated his webcam.

"Hey guys," he said softly. "Gambit's in the bathroom, and Bobby leant me his Annoy-A-Tron. I'm just going to hide it on the other side of my bed and then I'm going to read for awhile. This should be fun."

As he said he would, Jimmy got on his bed and found a place to hide the Annoy-A-Tron in between the bed and the wall and turned it on. He grabbed his book and made himself at him. His computer was positioned so that the webcam would have the best view of the room.

Eventually Gambit emerged and took a seat in front of the converter and began filling it with bio-kinetic energy. He was only at it for a minute or two before he heard a beep. He paused, frowned and looked around. Finally, not hearing it again, he shrugged and went back to the converter.

Four minutes later he heard the beep again.

"Did you hear that?" Gambit asked.

"Oh no," Jimmy replied, not even bothering to glance up from his book. "I'm not falling for that one."

Gambit snorted and returned once more to the charger. He ignored the beep when he heard it again three minutes later, and then again after eight minutes, and another after five, but when he heard it again after two, he was rather starting to get annoyed.

"Are you sure you're not hearing that beeping noise?" Gambit asked.

Jimmy didn't answer. Gambit rolled his eyes. The Annoy-A-Tron went off again seven minutes later and it was then that Gambit remembered.

"Merde," Gambit said, turning to glare at Jimmy. "Bobby smuggled you his Annoy-A-Tron, didn't he?"

Jimmy hid his grin behind his book.

"Okay, where is it?" Gambit demanded. "I hate that thing."

"Wait," Jimmy said, looking up from his book, "is this something that annoys you? Something actually annoys _you?_"

"Little known fact about me, mon ami," Gambit said darkly. "I used to make a living as a thief. Random beeping is generally something you have to be concerned about in that profession."

"You used to be a thief?" Jimmy asked in surprise.

"Oui, and a very good one at that. Now, where's the Annoy-A-Tron?" Gambit demanded.

Jimmy grinned broadly.

"I don't think I'll tell you," Jimmy said smugly. "You'll just have to find it for yourself."

Gambit growled in annoyance.


	63. The Annoying War

**AN: **

Okay so my little "Annoying War" is going on three times as long as anticipated. Which is fun for me, but I hope you guys don't get bored or anything. I was looking for a way to inject some humour after all the Legacy stuff and deal with what's happening with Jimmy and this is the result. I'm actually rather pleased I got two birds with one stone, hehe.

Anyway, this chapter is mostly just a bit of fun, however I was able to grant a couple of requests:

LizzieTurbo wanted me to use the words 'dead goldfish'

fergnerd wanted a scene with Logan and all his girls

While we're on the subject of requests, I really don't mind it if you guys ask for particular things. If it fits in with the story and I can find a way to write it that I'm happy with, I'll slip it in. It feels like an in-story 'thank you' for your feedback, haha. That said, the story comes first. If I don't grant your request, assume it's because I couldn't make it work, not that I didn't like it.

* * *

**Chapter 62: The Annoying War **

**Day Thirteen:**

Gambit emerged from the bathroom and went looking for his cards. In the process of looking for his cards he discovered that a few of his other things were missing. He eyed Jimmy suspiciously out of the corner of his eye. He never should have mentioned he used to be a thief; it had clearly given the boy ideas.

"What are you doing?" Gambit asked wandering over to peer over Jimmy's shoulder to see what he was looking at on the computer.

"I'm playing BioShock," Jimmy replied distractedly.

"I'll let you concentrate," Gambit replied, not even bothering to hide the smirk on his face.

This would be way too easy.

When Jimmy finished being distracted with his game a couple of hours later, he turned around to find that his half of the room had been completely stripped. All his things were gone; his books, his games, his clothes, even his bed covers. With wide eyes he turned to look at Gambit, who was chatting away to Rogue on the phone.

"How... when..." Jimmy stammered. "Where'd it all go?"

"Hang on a sec, chère," Gambit said, and smirked at Jimmy. "Probably the same place your watch went."

Jimmy's hand flew to his wrist. He hadn't even felt Gambit take it off.

"How'd you do that?" Jimmy asked in amazement.

"Never steal from a Master Thief," Gambit advised him. "It's just giving them the green light to rob you blind."

* * *

Day Fourteen:

Jimmy held his finger one centimetre away from Gambit's shoulder.

"I'm not touching you," Jimmy declared.

Gambit turned his head slowly, eyed Jimmy's finger and then lifted his head to meet Jimmy's grinning face.

"Congratulations," Gambit said dryly.

"I'm not touching you," Jimmy repeated. "I'm not touching you."

"The Annoy-A-Tron was way more effective, mon ami," Gambit replied. "By a landslide."

* * *

Day Sixteen:

Occasionally the residents of Xaviers would opt to have dinner out or in their rooms, although this meant that they had to organise their own food. It was with this in mind that Rogue arrived at Storm and Logan's virtual apartment on the very top floor of the Xavier mansion with a plate of dessert in hand. Her knock was met with an almost immediate "come in" and Rogue entered.

Kendall was on the floor, pressing large, coloured buttons on a musical toy. Storm was in the kitchenette. Logan and X-23—who had a room in the girls wing—were sitting off to the side having an in-depth conversation about something.

"Hi Storm," Rogue said. "I brought dessert."

"Oh, thank you dear," Storm replied, and then looked around at the cluttered kitchenette. "Just put it... umm..."

"Little crowded huh?" Rogue mused. "What don't I just put it—"

"No, if I move this to the table," Storm said, picking up a bowl of salad, "it can go in its place."

"Ahh, good plan," Rogue replied with a grin.

Storm went past with the salad and Rogue walked past the bench to put the dessert down. She moved out of the kitchenette quickly so that Storm could get back in.

"Need any help with anything?" Rogue offered.

"No, I think I'm about right," Storm replied. "Logan, we're ready now."

"Right," Logan replied, turning his head to look at her before looking back at X-23. "Why don't you have a seat, Laura, while I get Kendall."

"Yes Logan," X-23 replied politely as she stood.

Logan got up, scooped Kendall up off the floor and settled her into her high chair. He and Storm sat down either side of Kendall, with Laura next to Logan and Rogue next to Storm.

"Well, thank you for joining us, Rogue, Laura," Storm said.

"You are welcome," X-23 replied.

"Thanks for inviting us," Rogue said with a grin.

They each helped themselves to the number of prepared dishes in the middle of the table. Except for Kendall, of course, to whom Storm provided with her own dinner.

"So," Rogue said after a time. "Have you heard the latest on the annoying war?"

"It's a damn good name for it," Logan muttered.

"What's happened this time?" Storm asked resignedly.

"Jimmy short-sheeted Remy's bed and then video-taped him remaking the bed with the webcam," Rogue replied.

"Remind me why we let these kids have webcams?" Logan said.

"Because we like to reward kids for good behaviour as well as punishing them for bad," Storm replied.

"I don't think this comes under the category of 'good behaviour'," Logan muttered.

"No, I think it comes under the category of 'exceptional circumstances'," Storm said calmly. "It's not like we put people in quarantine all the time."

Logan grumbled at that.

"Anyway," Rogue went on gleefully. "Jimmy then posted the video after some judicious editing. He put it to music and added text commentary. Of course, Remy thought it was hilarious so that kinda failed."

"Which only served to annoy Jimmy," Logan said.

"Remy doesn't have to do a thing other than counter everything Jimmy does," Rogue said with a giggle. "So funny."

"What is 'short-sheeted'?" asked X-23.

"Oh, well, short-sheeting a bed, umm," Rogue considered for a moment. "Okay, when you make a bed, there are two sheets; one on the mattress and one that you pull over yourself when you go to sleep. When someone short-sheets it, they fold the bottom of the second sheet over so that when the victim gets into bed, the sheet doesn't cover their lower legs. It's annoying because your feet get cold if you try to sleep that way, amongst other things."

"I understand."

"Are you sure you want to marry this guy, Rogue?" asked Logan. "Only Remy would come up with an annoying war."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Rogue replied. "Besides, if he and I ever had an annoying war, I'd win."

"What would you do to annoy him?" Storm asked.

"Well, first I'd change all the labels on his bottles of wine—" Rogue began and stopped when Storm burst out laughing.

"I like it," Logan said with a big grin on his face.

"Why would that annoy him?" asked X-23.

"Because different wines have different tastes," Rogue explained carefully. "And Remy is very particular about what wine he likes to have with what meal. If I were to change the labels around, he would accidentally have the 'wrong wine' with the meal and that would annoy him a _lot_."

"I can see the steam pouring out of his ears already," Storm said.

"There are actually quite a few things that annoy Squeaky," Logan said. "He's just good at hiding it. Most of the time, anyway."

"Yes, I'm actually surprised you managed to talk him into going into quarantine at all," Storm said, "given how he feels about the med lab."

"Oh that was easy," Logan replied with a smirk. "I just told him that the only other option was Rogue, only she'd have to absorb me for the healing factor if she caught anything and we'd have to hope she kept it long enough to kill it off."

Rogue giggled.

"Ahh, blackmail," said Storm. "Something else that annoys Remy."

"Unless he's the one doing the blackmailing, then it's all right," Logan said, considered then added: "Are you sure you want to marry this guy, Rogue?"

Rogue laughed.

"Are you going to make a habit of asking me that?" she asked, highly amused. "Because if so, it's going to be a long pre-engagement, and I'd really hate to think what you're going to be like during the actual engagement."

"Then he'll be adding 'it's not too late to back out'," Storm suggested.

"I just don't think I want Remy as a son-in-law," Logan replied.

"Take comfort in the fact that I'm your adopted daughter—" Rogue began.

"No, there's no comfort in that," Logan cut in. "I agreed to adopt you, and that means I agreed to everything that comes with it. Just like I agreed to adopt Laura."

"And Kendall?" Storm asked.

"I was a willing and enthusiastic participant in her birth," Logan said. "I wouldn't give her up for the world."

"Nice to know," Storm replied.

* * *

Day Seventeen:

Gambit snickered to himself after watching Tabitha's edit of Jimmy's video of him making the bed. She had replaced the music Jimmy had with "I'm Too Sexy", which was somewhat appropriate, given that Gambit had only been wearing his pajama pants at the time. She'd also provided her own text commentary, which had consisted mainly of her circling parts of his anatomy and writing things like "Look! Remy butt cleavage!", "Check out those abs, yum yum", "He can make my bed any day" and "ROGUE IF YOU DON'T JUMP HIS BONES SOON I'M GOING TO TAKE HIM FROM YOU PROMISE RING OR NO PROMISE RING!". All in all it was mildly amusing.

Still, upon sending him the video (which was only being shared with X-men, and even then, no one was willing to send it to Storm, Logan, Hank or Evelyn), Gambit had also received a note from Rogue saying that he should do something silly to annoy Jimmy on purpose. He figured, why not? Throwing things back at Jimmy and refusing to let him rile him up was entertaining, but it would probably be just as much fun to go on the offensive. He turned on his webcam in preparation.

"Hey Gambit," Jimmy said as he reached his arm backwards, "can you pass me a coke?"

"Dead goldfish," Gambit replied as he opened up the minifridge.

"Umm, what?" Jimmy asked, blinking in incomprehension.

"Dead goldfish."

"Oookay. What about dead goldfish?"

"Dead goldfish," was all Gambit would say in reply as he handed Jimmy his drink.

"Why do you keep saying 'dead goldfish'?" Jimmy persisted.

"Dead goldfish."

"That's not an answer!"

Gambit just grinned and went back to the computer. When he got no response, Jimmy just shook his head.

"You're a weirdo, you know that right?" Jimmy asked.

"Dead goldfish," Gambit replied.

"What's with you and the dead goldfish all of a sudden?"

"Dead goldfish."

"Is that the only thing you know how to say?"

"Dead goldfish."

"Argh!" Jimmy complained, paused, narrow his eyes and said: "Gambit, say 'dead goldfish'."

Gambit was silent. Jimmy considered.

"Are you going to answer all my questions with the words 'dead goldfish'?" he asked suspiciously.

"Dead goldfish," Gambit replied with a smirk.

"Hmm," Jimmy said thoughtfully and activated his own webcam. "Hey guys, Gambit's decided he's going to try annoying me by answering all my questions with the words 'dead goldfish'. Check this out: Hey Gambit, what's your name?"

Gambit didn't reply. Instead he smirked and winked at his own webcam.

"Oh fine. What number comes after two?"

Still he didn't reply.

"Wait, first you couldn't stop saying 'dead goldfish' and now you won't say anything?"

Gambit wrote to Rogue in the chat room.

"You suck!" Jimmy proclaimed. "He was answering all my questions before with the words 'dead goldfish' just to annoy me, and now he's not doing it just to annoy me. Yeah, Risque I know how stupid that sounds."

Grumbling, Jimmy turned the webcam off.

"You're real pleased with yourself now, aren't you?" Jimmy said.

"Dead goldfish."

"Argh!"

* * *

Day Eighteen:

Jimmy was feeling a little frustrated. So far the only thing he had found that got on Gambit's nerves was the Annoy-A-Tron and after Gambit had found where he'd hidden that, he had asked Evelyn to return it to Bobby. Meanwhile, Gambit got on his nerves all the time.

"I just ordered your Christmas present," Gambit was saying on the phone. "And a little something for Logan too."

Now that was something that _really_ annoyed him about Gambit; his insistence on talking on the phone to his girlfriend all the time. Okay granted Rogue was pretty hot, and Jimmy knew he wasn't the only one who wished they were in Gambit's shoes but seriously, he talked to her a lot. Why couldn't he just go into a chat room or something if he was going to talk that much? Sometimes he just wanted to rip the phone away from his ear and...

Ooooh!

Jimmy made a plan and set things up, including turning off Gambit's powers. They gave him way too much of an advantage. Once he was ready, Jimmy snatched the phone out of Gambit's hand, ran for the bathroom, shut the door and slammed a chair in under the door handle.

"Hi Rogue!" Jimmy said. "How are you?"

"Hi Jimmy," Rogue said. "What just happened?"

"Very funny, Jimmy," Gambit said tolerantly through the door. "Give me back my phone."

"Gambit dropped his phone," Jimmy replied.

"I did not," Gambit objected. "Open this door."

"I see," Rogue said in obvious amusement.

"By the way, Rogue," Jimmy said, mustering up his nerve, "I just wanted to tell you that I think you're really beautiful."

"Aww thanks, Jimmy," Rogue said.

"Hey, that's _my_ girlfriend you're talking to," Gambit said, banging on the door.

"And I'm not just saying that because I want to annoy Gambit. I really do think that. And I think you're smart and tough and umm..." Jimmy trailed off. This was as far as his plan went.

"Say that you think my eyes are like the finest emeralds," Rogue said.

"I think that your eyes are like the finest emeralds," Jimmy replied with a huge grin.

"Stop flirting with my Rogue!" Gambit shouted, wrestling with the door handle.

"Say that my smile takes your breath away," Rogue advised.

"Your smile takes my breath away," Jimmy said. This was so cool. He couldn't believe she was actually helping him.

"Damn Leech!" Gambit yelled.

"Now say," Rogue said slyly, "that I should leave Gambit and run away with you and that I deserve someone who can actually control their powers."

Jimmy made a strangled noise in his effort to keep from laughing.

"Leave Gambit and run away with me, Rogue," he said in what he hoped was appropriately beseeching. "You deserve better than him. You deserve a man who can control his powers."

Gambit on the other side of the door grew silent while Rogue laughed and said "Well, you make a very interesting offer there, Jimmy, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to decline."

Suddenly there was a bang against the door and Jimmy jumped back. Gambit wasn't actually throwing his whole body at the door... was he?

"By the way," Rogue said conversationally. "Never flirt with someone else's girlfriend. It's bad form. And in Gambit's case, he's a bit of the possessive kind so if you were looking to get him to hit you, sugar, you may have succeeded."

"Umm, yeah," Jimmy said nervously. "I think he's trying to break the door down."

"Now would be a good time to hand the phone back," Rogue advised. "I hope you have his powers turned off."

"Yeah, I'm not stupid."

"After this stunt, that's debatable," she teased him.

"Umm, Gambit," Jimmy said loudly. "I'm going to give you back your phone now. Rogue doesn't want me. She, umm, she thinks I'm stupid!"

Rogue laughed.

"I'm taking the chair away from the door now," Jimmy said.

There was silence on the other side of the door and Jimmy carefully, nervously, pulled the chair away from underneath the door handle. Gambit stood there, his jaw set and his eyes glowing with rage despite the fact that his powers were turned off. Jimmy held out the phone and Gambit snatched it away from him.

"Roguey?" Gambit said urgently into the phone.

"Remy," Rogue replied coyly. "So, I'm thinking I'm going to have to have a shower a bit later. You know, after how dirty you're about to make me."

"Oh yeah? I think you're just trying to distract me from killing Jimmy," Gambit said, still glowering at Jimmy, who licked his lips nervously.

"Is it working?" Rogue asked.

"That depends on what you're wearing."

"Practically nothing."

"It's working," Gambit said and he shut the door in Jimmy's face.

* * *

Day Twenty-two:

Jimmy thought it was wise to keep a low profile for the next couple of days and for the next couple of days there was mostly silence between the two. Perhaps Rogue was right; bringing her into this probably had been really stupid. Still, it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The silence was starting to get rather awkward though and with still over a week left to go, Jimmy wanted to do something to clear things up. Not just so he could survive the rest of the month, but also so that he wouldn't flunk French class (he was already doing badly enough as it was).

"So, uhh," Jimmy said. "Gambit? Wanna hear a joke?"

"Sure," Gambit replied flatly.

"What do you get if you cross a tyrannosaurus rex with a cow?"

"What?"

"A monster that eats anyone who tries to milk it."

Gambit snickered.

"Okay," he said. "I have one."

"Shoot," Jimmy replied.

"There was once a blonde, a brunette and a red head who were on a tour of the sphinx. During the tour, the guide leads them by a room and says 'In there is a mirror. If you tell the mirror a truth, it will reward you, but if you tell it a lie, a hand will reach out and suck you in for all eternity.' Unable to resist temptation, the brunette goes in and says to the mirror 'I think I'm the smartest person in this sphinx' and ten thousand dollars magically appears. The red head sees that, so she goes in and says to the mirror 'I think I'm the most beautiful woman in this sphinx' and ten thousand dollars magically appears. Well, the blonde sees the lovely reward her friends have gotten, so she goes to the mirror and says 'I think...' and a hand reaches out and pulls her in."

Jimmy laughed and Gambit grinned at him. The jokes continued from there, nicely easing the tension and eventually they decided to turn on the webcams and share a joke telling session with everyone. X-men and students alike ending up joining in and Gambit, being Gambit, realised this was a prime opportunity to annoy everyone. How fun.

"Okay," Gambit said. "I've got a good one. It's going to take awhile so I hope you're comfortable."

"Shoot," Jimmy said.

"There was once this businessman who was on his way to a conference in another country," Gambit began. "As he wasn't familiar with the territory, he eventually got lost. It got later and later, and then his car ran out of petrol so he was forced to pull over. As he was trying to figure out what to do, he spotted a light up ahead, so he grabbed his things, locked up the car and headed towards the light."

Jimmy snickered.

"Not that light," Gambit said with a smirk. "Anyway, so he gets to the source, which turns out to be a monastery. He knocks at the gates and eventually a monk comes along. The businessman explains that he's lost and his car is out of petrol and he's hoping he could stay the night and call for help in the morning. The monk tells him he'll need to speak to the head monk, and lets him in. So the businessman repeats the story to the head monk, who agrees to help him on the condition that he stays in the room all night and no matter what he sees or hears he doesn't leave the room until daybreak."

"I wish we only had to stay in here until daybreak," Jimmy muttered.

Gambit chuckled and continued:

"The man agrees. After all, he's hell tired by now and he doesn't think he'd want to get up before then anyway. So the head monk escorts him to his room, which has a tiny little bed, a thin little mattress and a thin little blanket. He's a little cold but he soon falls asleep. Anyway, at some point in the middle of the night, something appears at his door. It's so bright and terrifying that he pulls his blanket up over his head and trembles until it goes away."

"What was it?" asked Jimmy.

"Patience, grasshopper," Gambit replied. "So come daybreak, the man is escorted to the head monk's office where he makes his call. While he's waiting for them to arrive, he asks the head monk what it was that appeared at his room last night and the head monk replies 'only monks can know'. Anyway, help arrives and they refill his car and get him back on the road with some directions, the businessman makes his conference. However, he's so caught up in what this thing was that when he gets home he quits his job and becomes a monk."

"And then he finds out what it was?" Jimmy asked.

"So the man works hard and stays with them for seven whole years when he's finally able to request a transfer to the monastery he found help at all that time ago. Suffice to say he was very, very excited when he finally got there because he was finally going to find out what this thing was. However, he didn't want to seem over-eager so he waited for a week before he finally approached the head monk and asked him what that thing was that had visited his room all those years ago. The head monk agrees to tell him and he leads him down to a door in the basement of the monastery, which he unlocks. The door opens to a long set of stairs going down and –"

"Was it a demon?" asked Jimmy.

"—they go down the stairs until they reach another door, which is made of copper," Gambit went on like Jimmy hadn't said anything. "And the man asks 'is it behind this door?' and the head monk replies 'no, my son, it is not'. They open the door and find another set of stairs. They go down these stairs too until they reach an iron door. The man asks 'is it behind this door?' and the head monk replies 'no, my son, it is not'. On the other side of the door is a third set of stairs going down. When they reach the bottom this time, they enter a massive cavern with a huge lava pit in the centre. The man asks 'is it in the lava pit?' and the head monk replies 'no, my son, it is not' and tells him that they need to go around the lava pit. It's only then that the man notices a skinny little ledge. Together the man and the head monk have to hug the wall all the way to the other side of the lava pit to the tunnel on the other side."

"How long does this story go for?" asked Jimmy

"So they go through the tunnel and reach a steel door. The man asks 'is it behind this door?' and the head monk replies 'no, my son, it is not'. So they open the door and find a set of stairs leading up. They climb up the stairs and reach another door, this one made of diamond. The man asks 'it is behind this door?' and the head monk replies 'no, my son, it is not'. The door opens and reveals another set of stairs, which lead to a door made of adamantium. And the man asks 'is it behind this door?' and the head monk replies 'yes, my son, it is'."

"Finally!" Jimmy exclaimed.

"So they opened the door," Gambit said, not bothering to hide the huge grin on his face, "and he saw what is was."

Silence.

"Well?" Jimmy demanded. "What was it?"

Gambit smirked wickedly. "Only monks can know."


	64. I'm Naked! Under my Image Inducer

**AN:** I love "The Monk Story". I've been wanting an excuse to use that in a fanfic for awhile now, heh. A couple of people have asked about it so: No, I didn't make it up. One of my English teacher's told it to the class in high school. I think I was about the only one who wasn't irritated by the ending, probably because I figured out where it was going as soon as she said "only monks can know" the first time. I laughed at my classmates for getting so worked up, hehehehe.

* * *

**Chapter 63: I'm Naked! Under my Image Inducer**

Day Twenty-three:

"Just how long were you planning on keeping my powers turned off for today, Leech-boy?" Gambit asked.

Jimmy shrugged.

"I don't know," Jimmy replied. "How long were you planning on calling me 'Leech-boy' for?"

Gambit chuckled good-naturedly. Still, although he didn't show it, having his powers turned off for hours on end was making him nervous. He found he missed the familiar and comforting sensation of kinetic energy generating within him. Plus if Jimmy kept this up, he might get stuck over sleeping. The thought made him shudder; these savages that slept more than 4 hours. What a terrible waste of time.

Gambit made a plan, which he put into action when Jimmy still hadn't turned his powers back on an hour after dinner. Gambit raided the minifridge. On account of his mutation, he had been allowed to have alcoholic drinks in quarantine with him on the proviso that he did not give any to Jimmy whatsoever. While Gambit thought underage laws for drinking was silly (he having been drinking since before he was a teenager), he did respect Storm and Logan's stance on the matter and agreed.

Gambit considered his choices, tossed up between the beer and the bourbon and settled on the beer. Champagne would have been better for what he had in mind, but that said, he wouldn't want to waste good champagne. Thus Gambit began to drink.

Without his enhanced metabolism to keep him sober, Gambit was soon intoxicated. This was a little disconcerting for Jimmy, who'd never been around a drunk person before and wasn't quite sure how to deal with it.

"I miss Roguey," Gambit sighed.

"I kinda figured that," Jimmy replied, "seeing as how you call her all the time."

"Not enough," he said woefully. "I wish I was trapped in quarantine with Roguey."

"Yeah? So do I. That would mean I wouldn't be in here," Jimmy said.

"I want my Roguey."

Jimmy listened to Gambit's babbling about how much he missed Rogue and felt more and more embarrassed as the minutes passed. He attempted to change the subject, but Gambit wouldn't be diverted. He even tried ignoring him, but it was a little hard to do that when Gambit got all weepy.

While Jimmy was pondering turning Gambit's powers back on, Gambit picked up a piece of paper off the table and held it at varying distances until he could focus and actually read what it said. He snickered, stood up and staggered over to Jimmy.

"I'm a little drunk," Gambit informed him.

"I guessed that," Jimmy replied.

"Do you have any idea how long it's been since I was drunk?" Gambit asked, leaning heavily on him.

"Umm, no," Jimmy said, turning his nose away from the reek of Gambit's beer breath.

"Neither do I. Wait! No, it was a few years ago with Roguey—" Gambit said, ignored Jimmy's groan and continued: "We were in N'Awlins and we came home from the party early 'cause—"

Whatever Gambit was going to say next was interrupted by his throwing up on Jimmy. Jimmy thought he was going to be sick himself when the stench reach his nose. As soon as he could get free of Gambit—which wasn't until after he'd thrown up on him a second time—Jimmy red-lined it to the shower and turned Gambit's powers back on.

Jimmy emerged from the bathroom about an hour later after he had thoroughly drenched himself and the clothes he had been wearing in the shower, and then stayed in there just to make sure. When he stepped through the door he saw Gambit was sitting comfortably in his chair with a glass of water and his legs propped up on the table.

"Did you have to throw up on me?" Jimmy demanded.

"Did you have to turn my powers back on?" Gambit replied. "Now I'm sober again. Damn Jimmy, I generate that much energy these days, I barely remember what a beer buzz feels like, let alone drunkenness. Although... that would mean I could probably out-drink Logan now... should try that sometime. Jimmy! I've decided!"

"What have you decided?" Jimmy asked warily.

"When I hit twenty-one—wait, how old are you now?" Gambit asked.

"Sixteen," he replied.

"Okay when _you_ hit twenty-one, you and I are going bar-hopping. You can turn my powers off and I promise not to leave a note reminding myself to throw up on you," Gambit said, grinning at him.

"A note?" Jimmy questioned.

Gambit held out the piece of paper he read earlier.

"You...you _planned_ this?" Jimmy exploded.

Gambit chuckled wickedly.

* * *

Day Twenty-four:

Gambit woke up at about two in the morning as Jimmy turning off his powers made him fall asleep earlier than usual. He went to the bathroom to do his business and as he washed his hands a wicked little idea occurred to him. Gambit turned the tap on the basin so that it was left on just enough for it to drip and headed back into the room, hoping that Jimmy would turn out to be one of the people who couldn't handle that kind of thing.

While the tap dripped away, Gambit decided to feed the converter—as it was one of the quietest activities he knew—and watched for Jimmy's reaction. At first there was nothing and then a smile came to Gambit's face as he saw Jimmy stir.

Jimmy began to toss and turn, wrap his pillow around his head and finally he grumpily got up out of bed, turned the tap off and went back to sleep. Gambit waited until Jimmy had finally fallen back to sleep, waited a couple of minutes more and then turned the tap back on.

This was going to be a fun night.

* * *

After being woke up for the umpteenth time by that annoying tap, (darn Gambit), Jimmy gave up trying to sleep. He grumbled as he passed Gambit doing some pushups, walked into the bathroom and turned the tap firmly off once more. He then pulled his clothes from the night before out of the dryer and it was then that he got his idea.

Gambit paid Jimmy little attention when he came out of the bathroom again, put his clothes away and got on the computer very briefly. He was busy counting off the last of his pushups when all of a sudden he was soaking wet. After Gambit took a moment to get over his shock, he looked up to see Jimmy grinning at him with a now-empty bucket in his hand.

For a moment the two looked at each other. Finally Gambit stood up and shrugged.

"I suppose I deserved that," Gambit said mildly as he made his way to the bathroom.

Jimmy shook his head and then grinned as Gambit closed the door behind him. Quickly he moved over to the computer and spoke quietly into the microphone.

"What Gambit is about to find out, is that all the towels are soaking wet, as are all the clothes he left in there, and, courtesy of bucket number two, so will be the last of his dry clothes in here."

* * *

"Oooh," Jubilee said. "Does this mean we're going to see naked Remy?"

"I hope not," Rogue said dryly.

"Why? You're dating him," Jubilee pointed out. "Don't you want to see him naked?"

"I don't want you guys to see him naked," Rogue replied.

"We won't," Tabitha said glumly. "There's a dryer in the bathroom remember? He only needs to wait in there long enough for his things to dry."

"Heh," Bobby snickered. "Jimmy better hope that Remy doesn't come out naked –"

"Penis envy?" Tabitha suggested.

"Actually I was thinking more of Logan reaction if he discovers that Jimmy's put up a live show of Remy—or anyone else—naked," Bobby said.

"Oooh, good point."

"Oh! Door's opening," Jubilee said excitedly.

* * *

Gambit opened up the bathroom door and whistled to himself as he walked over to where he was keeping his clothes and found them all wet too. Great, now he had to put another load in the dryer. He caught himself before he let out an exasperated sigh and turned around to face Jimmy.

Jimmy had initially been confused when a fully-clothed and dry Gambit emerged from the bathroom. It was only when Gambit turned around and he could see what was written on his shirt that Jimmy realised what was going on and he burst out laughing:

_I'm Naked!  
Under my Image Inducer_

"I see you've been having fun, mon ami," Gambit said and then frowned a little as his eyes fell on Jimmy's computer. "Have you got the webcam on?"

Jimmy managed to say "yes" through his laughter. Gambit walked over and looked into the camera.

"Thanks for humouring me, Forge," Gambit said. "See? I told you it was a great idea."

* * *

"Shove over," Tabitha said to Jubilee, her hand already on the keyboard.

"What are you writing?" Jubilee asked curiously.

Tabitha didn't reply, only kept typing her message into the chat screen and hit enter.

_"No Tabby,"_ Gambit said after glancing at it. _"No I'm not going to turn the image inducer off."_

"Hey!" Rogue objected.

_"Unless of course,_" Gambit went on slyly, _"there was something in it for me."_

"All right," Tabitha cheered. "Let's see, how can we entice him to let us see his hot naked body? We don't get to see nearly enough of it in strip poker."

**_Wolverine: _**_Squeaky when you turn that thing off you had better be wearing clothes_

**_Firecracker:_**_ Tabby: I wanna see Remy starkers!_

"Well, you don't get to," Rogue said darkly, picking up her phone.

**_Wolverine: _**_How would you like a month's worth of early morning danger room sessions, Boom Boom?_

**_Firecracker: _**_Tabby: It would be worth it to see Remy in his birthday suit_

**_Firecracker: _**_Tabby! Go use your own account!_

_"Hi Roguey,"_ Gambit said upon answering his phone.

"No, you do not get to parade around naked for all the world to see," Rogue said firmly.

"Rogue! Stop spoiling my fun!" Tabitha objected.

**_Siryn: _**_Wow, the chatroom got really quiet all of a sudden_

**_Cannonball: _**_It's because we all now know that Logan's in here and Tabby's the only one willing to brave his wrath by encouraging Remy to turn off his II_

**_Thunderbird: _**_Actually I really don't want to see Remy naked_

**_Hellion: _**_Neither do I_

**_Boom Boom: _**_I do! Remy! I'll give you anything you want! ANYTHING!_

"Tabby!" Rogue scolded.

"What's wrong Rogue?" Tabitha asked. "Worried he might do it?"

"No, but every time I think he won't do something, he ends up surprising me," Rogue replied darkly and then heard Gambit laugh on the other end of the phone in response.

**_Storm: _**_Jimmy, turn off the webcam. Neither of you are to activate either webcam if you're less than fully clothed. Image Inducers don't count as clothing._

_"But no one can see anything Stormy," _Gambit pointed out.

**_Storm: _**_That's hardly the point._

**_Storm: _**_Furthermore, if there are any more antics of this nature, both webcams will be confiscated. Is that clear?_

_"Yes Storm," _Jimmy said the same time Gambit replied: _"Oui Stormy."_

**_Storm: _**_And don't call me Stormy_

_"Oui Stormy," _Gambit said.

Jimmy turned off the webcam and Gambit sat down in front of his computer, his phone still to his ear while he chatted to Rogue. He opened up his messenger and almost immediately got an invitation to a private chat by Storm. Logan was also in there.

**_Storm: _**_I think this little 'annoying war' of yours is going too far, Remy_

**_Wolverine: _**_To put it mildly! What are you two trying to do? Create your own Big Brother?_

**_Gambit: _**_Nah that show sucks_

**_Gambit: _**_Don't even have to watch it to know that much_

**_Gambit: _**_I think you're missing the point anyway_

**_Storm: _**_And just what is the point? Other than disrupting the student body?_

**_Gambit: _**_That would be Jimmy's contribution_

**_Wolverine: _**_This ought to be rich_

**_Gambit: _**_I'm just keeping Jimmy from going crazy_

**_Gambit: _**_Look, he's never going to annoy me enough that I'm going to want to hit him, and as long as he thinks I'm trying to annoy him so much he hits me, he won't just so he doesn't "give me the satisfaction"_

**_Gambit: _**_Well, except maybe that thing with Rogue_

**_Wolverine: _**_What thing with Rogue?_

**_Gambit: _**_The point is we're in QUARANTINE and the only visitor we ever get is Evelyn who suits up every time she comes in here._

**_Gambit: _**_This place is just asking for us both to go nuts_

**_Wolverine: _**_You already were nuts_

**_Gambit: _**_I've just given Jimmy something to occupy his mind_

**_Storm: _**_That's what school work is for_

**_Gambit: _**_Then he does his homework, and then what? That's just a quick fix, Stormy. This has been keeping him occupied for over a week and will continue to do so for what's left of our confinement._

**_Gambit: _**_Look, I'm sure by now he realises he shouldn't have turned the webcam on for this one. I'll talk to him anyway just to make sure_

* * *

"To be honest," Jimmy said a little later, "I hadn't really thought that far ahead. You'd kept me up most of the night and all I could think about was getting back at you."

"I can understand that, mon ami," Gambit replied with a grin. "Look, if only the facility could have seen the video, it probably wouldn't have been such a big deal, but you'd set things up so that everyone here had access to it. Regardless of whether you think you and your friends are mature enough to handle it, Storm and Logan have certain standards on what should and shouldn't be broadcast to the student body. I have a sneaking suspicion that if we weren't in quarantine, we'd be getting extra chores or danger room sessions for this."

"Yeah, sorry," Jimmy said.

"Might still end up with some if we're not careful after we get out of here," Gambit mused. "Depends on how badly we tick them off, I guess."

Jimmy chuckled nervously. There was an odd silence a few minutes.

"Remy?" Jimmy asked tentatively.

"Oui?"

"Umm, about the image inducers..."

"What about them?"

"Well, umm, I guess, seeing as how I have green skin now and all, that I'll probably end up with one?" Jimmy said.

"Probably," Gambit replied. "If you want one."

"Is it... I mean, do they... umm..." Jimmy stammered uncertainly.

"They're harmless," Gambit said. "The watch is a little heavy, but then mine's also a power monitor, but they don't hurt or anything, if that's what you're asking."

"Oh, good," Jimmy replied, paused for a moment, then asked: "Do you like using yours? Umm, I mean does...does it makes things better, or easier or what?"

Gambit studied Jimmy for a moment.

"Personally?" Gambit said finally. "If I _have_ to hide my eyes, I'd rather a pair of sunglasses over the image inducer. I don't like these brown eyes. These eyes are not mine and they've never felt like mine. It's funny; I spent my entire childhood being teased because of them, even a little ashamed of them, and then one day they were gone. Sure, it meant I could fit into the crowd easier, but the people in my life who mattered the most didn't care that my eyes were unusual, and at the end of the day, neither did I."

"I... I just... My skin's green," Jimmy said, looking away.

"Yeah, it is," Gambit agreed. "And I'm really a forty-three year old man in a seventeen year old body. The colour of your skin doesn't change the fact that you're still a good kid, Jimmy, and just like with my eyes, no one who matters is going to care what colour skin you have. I suppose you could always ask Paint if she could help you out, but if I were you, I'd embrace it."

"How do I embrace this?" Jimmy asked despondently as he held out his hands.

"You make it your own," Gambit said. "Think of it as a trophy or a sign that you're not going to be used by other people any more."

Jimmy nodded slowly. "Thanks Gambit."

"No problem," Gambit replied as he stood. "And on that note, I'm going to check if my clothes are dry yet."

* * *

Day Twenty-Eight:

"Only a couple of days left," Jimmy said happily. "I really hope they let us out this time and don't decide to keep us in even longer."

"I'm sure everything will be fine, mon ami," Gambit replied as he dealt the cards.

"I hope so."

There was a companionable silence between them while they played their game of poker. Jimmy was finally starting to get the hang of Texas Hold 'em.

"Got any plans for Christmas?" Gambit asked.

"Not really," Jimmy replied. "Same as last year, I guess."

Gambit considered Jimmy thoughtfully.

"Do you ever get away from the mansion?" he asked.

"Sure," Jimmy replied. "My friends and I go out see movies, stuff like that."

"No, I mean, on holidays or anything?" Gambit pressed. "You stay here over the summer, don't you?"

"Yeah, this is the only home I have," Jimmy replied. "So, no holidays."

"I think it's past time we did something about that," Gambit said thoughtfully. "It's not like we're short on supervisors or anything, I'll talk to Stormy about doing something over the summer with you kids who get stuck here. No reason why you guys shouldn't be able to escape once in a while."

"Really?" Jimmy said brightly. "That would be great."

"And in the meantime, how'd you like to come down to N'Awlins with me for Christmas this year?" Gambit asked. "You and a friend."

"What... Seriously?" Jimmy asked. "You... you want me to join you and your family for Christmas?"

"Sure," Gambit replied. "I wouldn't make the offer if I didn't mean it. Besides, being around other French speakers may help your grasp of the language. You can even bring a friend if you want. The only thing to keep in mind is that, well, stealing is the family business. They won't rob _you_ or anything, I'm just warning you so you're not shocked when it comes up in conversation."

"Oh right," Jimmy replied.

"Anyway, think about it," Gambit said. "You're more than welcome to come up if you want. If you'd rather stay here, that's fine too."

Jimmy nodded thoughtfully.

"Thanks, Gambit," he said. "I'll think about it."


	65. Lips Like Morphine

**Chapter 64: Lips Like Morphine**

Day Thirty-one:

"Freedom!" Gambit yelled as he ran forth from quarantine, his arms outstretched. "Sweet, precious freedom! Roguey!"

Rogue laughed as Gambit practically tackled her to the ground and promptly smothered her with kisses.

"Hey I've been in there way longer than you," Jimmy said. "If anyone should be crowing about freedom, it should be me."

"No one is..." Gambit said between kisses, "stopping...you...mon ami."

"Good point," Jimmy said and then yelled "Freedom!"

"Yes well," Hank said, not without a smile when Jimmy was done doing a happy dance. "Both your tests have come out clean and as you know we have become rather well acquainted with how Remy's healing shows up on his power monitor. As far as we know neither of you have anything, but I want you both to see me immediately if you feel otherwise."

"Sure, sure," Gambit said finally standing up and helping Rogue back to her feet. "In the meantime, I have some catching up to do."

Rogue giggled as Gambit picked her up, threw her over his shoulder in a fireman's hold and carried her out of the med lab.

"Help, help," Rogue said playfully as he carried her down the hall to the teacher's wing. "I'm being kidnapped."

This elicited some laughter from different ones they passed.

"I'll save you!" Bobby shouted. "Oh wait, no, I'm late for an appointment. I'll save you later."

"Smart ass!" Rogue yelled back at him.

"Thank you for noticing!"

"You're not checking out other men, are you chère?" Gambit asked dangerously.

"Well, I had to do something with my time while you were locked up," Rogue teased him.

"You're lucky I left my handcuffs in N'Awlins, woman," Gambit replied as he opened up his bedroom door. "Ahh my room. I've missed you."

"Why does it not surprise me to know you have handcuffs?" Rogue replied, bemused as Gambit shut the door behind them and carried her over to the bed.

"Can't learn how to get out of them if I don't have any, Roguey," Gambit said and put her unceremoniously down on the bed.

"Any excuse," Rogue taunted him as he climbed on top of her.

"Enough talk," Gambit decided.

His lips captured hers with a fiery passion and Rogue was rendered quite breathless. Gambit captured her hands in his and held them above her head, while his other hand snaked in under her shirt.

A magenta haze flickered in the corner of his eye and Gambit was distracted long enough to realise he was charging up the bed. He groaned and rested his head on Rogue's attempting to reabsorb it but to no avail.

"Hold it," Rogue said softly.

Rogue absorbed Gambit just long enough to grab hold of his powers and pull the charge into herself.

x-x-x

_Rogue was naked, blindfolded and handcuffed to the bed. Her ample breasts heaved with every quick breath, her body quivered and her legs spread before him. Gambit's fingers grazed her wet centre, eliciting a moan from her perfect mouth._

_Slowly he began to enter her. His hands gripped her thighs, and tightened every time she called his name and pleaded with him to go faster. Her hips buckled and she wrapped her legs around him in an attempt to force him further into her, but the handcuffs stayed her descent._

_He gave her but a second to enjoy his being completely inside and then he pulled out again. Once more he began the slow passage, only marginally faster than before. Then again, and again, each time increasing in speed until at last they came around each other in perfectly timed bliss._

x-x-x

"Merci, chère," Gambit said softly, the moment he got over the brief dizzy spell absorption produced.

"You want to blindfold and handcuff me, and make me beg and scream your name over and over while you deliberately go slowly just to torment me?" Rogue said in something between amusement and disgust.

Gambit smiled, taking in the hot flush on her face.

"Oui," he said, his low voice inciting her face to redden further. "Does it turn you on?"

"I'm not really sure that's a question I should be answering in the affirmative, Remy," Rogue drawled. "I think that being turned on by sexual fantasies starring myself would be a little narcissistic."

"In other words," Gambit replied, "you love the idea of me having my wicked way with you, but you're too embarrassed to admit it, or you're more under the influence of my psyche than you realised."

"If I didn't know better," Rogue said dryly. "I'd say you deliberately charged the bed up so I would absorb you and your dirty little mind."

"My dirty little mind is the only place I'm getting any," Gambit pointed out. "Making me wait until the wedding night."

"A promise ring isn't a wedding ring, Swamp Rat."

* * *

_"Hi everyone!" _Jubilee's voice said cheerfully over the PA system. _"Piotr's trying to tell me that the PA isn't meant for these kinds of announcements, but I say he's wrong and—Pete! Stop trying to pull me off—Anyway! As I was _trying_ to say before I was so _rudely _interrupted. Kitty's had the baby! It's a girl and she's sooooo cute and adorable and I have to say 'about time!' because she was eight whole days overdue and—Pete, I don't care if you wanted to tell everyone personally, this is more fun, Besides we've been waiting for the news for over a week, sheesh! The people want to know... Oh go call your parents; they wouldn't have heard this. Now what was I...? Oh yeah. Her name is Meredith and..."_

* * *

"Merry Christmas," Rogue said to Logan, holding out a suspiciously flat and floppy present for him.

"Thanks," Logan replied.

Tomorrow, Rogue, Gambit, Jimmy and Artie would be taking the train down to New Orleans for the Christmas break. In the meantime, Rogue and Gambit were handing out their presents and 'Merry Christmas's in advance.

"And this is from me," Gambit said, presenting a similar gift.

"Thanks," Logan repeated.

Logan opened up first the present from Rogue. As he'd suspected, it was a shirt and printed across the front were the words "Training to be a Cage Fighter." Logan snickered.

"I thought you'd like that," Rogue grinned.

Logan then proceeded to open up Gambit's present, which was also a shirt. He looked at it and fought to keep the grin off his face:

_D.A.D.D.  
Dads against Daughters Dating_

"How does it feel to be the father of three girls, mon ami?" Gambit asked with a grin. "You dealing with all the estrogen okay?"

"I understand your healing factor's been getting faster, Squeaky," Logan replied evenly. "Perhaps I should skewer your arm again so we can time it."

Gambit laughed.

* * *

"This is so cool," Jimmy said excitedly as he stepped into the dining car with Rogue, Gambit and Artie.

He and Artie were wearing their image inducers; Jimmy to hide his skin and Artie to hide his blue forked tongue. Gambit was just wearing his sunglasses.

The four were seated at a nearby table and the two boys marvelled at the way the waiters could serve food and pour drinks even as the train rocked along the tracks.

"This is novel," Rogue mused, smiling at Gambit. "Usually we end up seated with another pair of passengers."

"Ahh, the conversations that emerge from meeting random people on the train," Gambit said. "Once they seated us with a senior couple who were horrified to learn that we were travelling without adult supervision. We had to tell them we were brother and sister before they'd stop freaking out."

"Yeah, that was funny," Rogue said with a giggle. "I'm sure that if Remy wasn't such a good con artist they never would have believed us."

"You're a good con artist, Gambit?" Jimmy asked.

"You'd be surprised the things I can make people believe," Gambit replied smugly. "By the way, while we're in N'Awlins you deux may call me Remy, but once we're back in New York it's Gambit again, d'accord?"

"Yeah sure," Jimmy and Artie agreed.

Their meals arrived: plates with giant pieces of chicken and vegetables, along with cans of drink. They ate and drank leisurely and eventually made their way back to their rooms. The bunks had been made up in their absence, so after locking the door, Gambit put the top bunk back up so he could make out more comfortably with Rogue. If it weren't for the fact that Rogue could absorb his excess energy—of which there was plenty—they would have taken the plane again.

* * *

Jimmy and Artie were wide-eyed with awe when they realised that the 'cool limo' they'd seen outside the train station was actually their ride to the mansion. While the chauffeur dealt with their luggage, the four joined Jean-Luc inside.

"Père," Gambit said, "these are mes amis, Jimmy and Artie. Guys, this is mon père, or mon grandpère depending on who you talk to. You may call him Monsieur LeBeau or sir, unless he decides to favour you like he does Roguey and let you call him Jean-Luc."

Rogue giggled and Jean-Luc gave the boys a cursory glance while they greeted him politely and turned their image inducers off.

"How was the trip, mon fils?" Jean-Luc asked.

"Peaceful," Gambit replied and then winked at Rogue. "Relaxing."

"I'm sure. And how have you been, Rogue?"

"Quite well, thank you," Rogue replied.

"I understand you have your powers back and under control now?" Jean-Luc asked.

"Yes," Rogue confirmed with a nod of her head. "It's certainly a relief, I can tell you. Now, if we can just get Remy's under control..."

Gambit poked his tongue out at her and she grinned at him.

* * *

Jimmy and Artie were in awe of the Guild Headquarters, although all they really saw of it beyond the entrance was the LeBeau wing. It was far more lavish than the Xavier mansion, but then Xavier's was also a school. For the first time in years, Jimmy and Artie found themselves in their own rooms, each the size of the room they shared at the school.

After dropping off their bags, Gambit, Rogue, Jimmy and Artie met in the living room. Gambit was immediately greeted by Aimee, who wrapped her arms around him in a big hug, shouting "Remy!" Gambit chuckled and hugged her back. Aimee then promptly hugged Rogue and the "How are you"s and "It's so good to see you"s were exchanged.

"Aimee," Gambit said then. "These are mes amis, Jimmy and Artie. Guys, this is my niece—or cousin depending on who you talk to—Aimee."

"Hi," Jimmy said the same time Artie came out with a nervous "Hey."

Gambit was a little thrown off by their uncharacteristically shy responses until he turned to look at Aimee. Being his niece, Gambit have never really looked at her "in that way", but when Aimee grinned at the two boys with a saucy "hey boys", Gambit realised that at sixteen, she was rather attractive.

Aimee had the look of her mother. She had wavy blonde hair that came down to her shoulder blades and sparkling blue eyes that hid the ruthless, conniving little thief Gambit knew was inside. She had a lithe, athletic, 5'0" body, with not really enough curves for Gambit's tastes, but she was hardly a stick insect either. She knew exactly how to dress to accentuate all her best features too.

He never should have brought Jimmy and Artie here. They didn't stand a chance.

"And this is Tante Mercy," Gambit went on, winking at his sister-in-law. "And—"

"Henri," Henri said pointedly before Gambit could add an 'Oncle'.

"Nice to meet you," said Jimmy as Artie also said hi.

"I told 'em we're all thieves here," Gambit went on. "Also, they're not to pick up any, ahem, bad habits. Aimee."

"Who, me?" Aimee asked innocently.

"Especially you," Gambit replied. "Stormy and Logan will have my hide if they come back knowing how to pick pockets and locks. This is just a holiday break. So, where's crab-boy?"

"Sebby's working again tonight," Henri replied.

"He got a tattoo," Aimee said, grinning. "You should get him to show you tomorrow."

"Cool," Rogue said. "I've thought about getting a tattoo."

"Yeah?" Aimee asked. "I have too, but I have no idea what I would get."

"No tattoos unless you're prepared to live with them for the rest of your life," Mercy said firmly.

"Yeah, yeah," Aimee dismissed.

Rogue chuckled.

"That's the thing, huh? Getting something you're prepared to live with."

"Yep," Aimee agreed and then held her hand out to Rogue. "By the way, I love your ring. It's so cute."

Rogue looked at Aimee's hand, then at her bare finger.

"Hey," Rogue objected as she took her ring back. "You don't see me picking your pockets."

"That's 'cause you can't," Aimee teased her. "I'm still happy to teach you. How come you keep it on your ring finger?"

"Because it's a _ring_ finger," Gambit joked.

"Remy got me a promise ring," Rogue said.

Thump.

"Something wrong, Henri?" Gambit asked, amused at the sight of his brother in a heap.

Mercy started laughing.

"Aww," Aimee said happily. "A promise ring! That's so sweet. Can I be a bridesmaid?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" Rogue mused.

"You... You... Ring... _You_... Marriage?" Henri stammered.

"See?" Mercy said smugly. "I told you one day Remy would fall for someone. Although, personally, I was banking on the object of your affections rejecting you."

"Thanks a lot," Gambit replied cynically.

"No, seriously," Aimee said, tugging at Rogue's arm. "I wanna be a bridesmaid."

"Well, right now I'm not making plans," Rogue replied tolerantly. "Remy wants to get his powers under control first."

"Aimee, leave it," Mercy put in. "Just what is happening with your power control anyway, Remy?"

Gambit shrugged.

"I seem to be increasing more in what I can do faster than control," he admitted. "I've started being able to charge living matter and I know I'm generating for more energy than I was this time last year. Frankly, if it wasn't for the fact that Rogue can drain my excess energy off, I probably would have stayed at Xavier's this year."

"Living matter?" Mercy repeated. "You mean people?"

"Merry Christmas," Gambit said dryly.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Henri said holding up his hands. "Hold the phone here a second. I'm still trying to comprehend that Remy's decided he wants to get married without you moving onto other topics like being able to blow up things that are alive."

"Okay mon frère," Gambit replied with a grin. "Take all the time you need to comprehend. I'll just stand here and pull faces at you while we're waiting."

"Why are we all standing around for, when there are seats available anyway?" asked Mercy. "Make yourselves at home. Henri, get off the floor. That's no way for the Patriarch to be seen."

"Shouldn't been seen getting badgered by his wife either," Gambit teased him as he sat down beside Rogue on the lounge.

"Oh you'll get yours," Henri informed him, and rubbed his hands together eagerly. "In fact, this is the best news ever. After all those years of you taunting me about the nagging wife and being whipped and the pitfalls of having children, you're finally signing up for the same thing."

"Say Roguey," Gambit said slyly. "You know what would be really funny? If Aimee or Sebby started having kids the same time we do."

Rogue giggled. She laughed even harder when Henri groaned and proclaimed he was too young to be a grandfather.

"Speaking of which, are you seeing any one at the moment?" Gambit asked Aimee.

"Nah," Aimee replied with a wave of her hand. "I'm more interested in refining my thieving techniques than dating."

"Merci dieu," Henri muttered.

"Seb's been dating on and off, but no one serious," Aimee went on. "Oh and Mignonette has the hottest boyfriend ever. You could fry an egg on his—"

"Aimee!" Mercy exclaimed.

Gambit laughed.

"You are way braver than I was at your age," Rogue said shaking her head. "The first time, I mean. There's no way I would have ever said something like that in front of my parents. Probably would have given Daddy a heart attack."

"But you'd say stuff like that in front of Logan," Gambit said.

"Absolutely," Rogue agreed with a grin. "He'd survive a heart attack."

"I thought he was going to have a heart attack when he found out about the promise ring," Gambit mused.

"He keeps asking me if I'm sure I want to marry you," Rogue replied. "He doesn't want you for a son-in-law."

"You know something, chère?" Gambit said, a big grin forming on his face. "I didn't think of it that way. Well, well, well."

"Oh dear. Is Logan going to regret me telling you that?"

"Most likely."

"Okay, but try not to get yourself stabbed and/or killed, sugar," Rogue replied.

Gambit snickered.

"I just love the way you take Remy's suicidal tendencies in stride," Henri told Rogue.

"Well, at first it was all 'are you nuts?' and then I realised that he really was insane and now it just seems like a personality quirk," Rogue said. "He has this annoying tendency to come out on top."

"I come out on top all right," Gambit agreed suggestively.

Rogue closed her eyes and sighed.

"I should have known better than to phrase it like that. I really should," she muttered.

"Since Logan isn't here to do it," Henri said. "Are you sure you want to marry this guy?"

Rogue laughed.

"Not that we wouldn't love to have you as part of the family," Henri added.

"Yeah, but let's face it," Aimee added mischievously. "The only other way she could marry into our family would be if she married Seb...or Grandpère."

"I'm just going to pretend you didn't say that," Rogue said, turning up her nose in disgust. "Nothing against either of them, but they're definitely not my type."

"My Roguey," Gambit insisted as he wrapped his arms around Rogue and pulled her into his lap.

At the same time, something in the room blew up and Gambit winced.

"Désolé," he said, looking away.

"Feeling a little over-charged there, sugar?" Rogue asked.

"A bit," he admitted ruefully.

Rogue met his lips with her own and Aimee, who was sitting next to them, watched with wide eyes as a spider web of lines appeared across Gambit's skin.

"Whoa," Aimee said.

Rogue made a point of absorbing his energy over his memories or powers—although avoiding those all together was impossible—and finally pulled away. As she lifted her head once more and Gambit came to, the LeBeau's saw how her eyes had changed to red on black.

"Mon dieu," Henri said as Mercy gave a small gasp.

"Okay," said Aimee. "That's cool. Way freaky, but cool. Just what is your mutant power anyway?"

"Everyone else's," Rogue replied.

"You right there, Remy?" Henri asked.

"Oui, oui," Gambit replied as he reoriented himself. "Ma chère packs a punch there."

"I have lips like morphine," Rogue joked.

"Right..." Henri said slowly. "You said something about charging people before?"

"Oui," Gambit confirmed. "Fortunately Roguey's powers can help me with mine, and hey, even Jimmy can turn me off if we get into trouble. You'll notice if I start charging a person 'cause they're big and take longer. Whenever I charge up big stuff, Roguey usually absorbs me and then absorbs whatever it is I was charging. I swear, she uses my equipment better than I do."

"That's because you've only been handling it yourself for a couple of years," Henri taunted him. "You always had someone else handle it for you in the past."

"Oh you're just jealous 'cause the Whores Guild never offered you a spot as a Courtesan if you ever decided to quit the Thieves," Gambit teased him.

Rogue giggled, knowing from Gambit's memories that "Courtesan" rank in the Whores Guild was the equivalent of a "Master" rank in the Thieves Guild.

"I'm not sure that's something to brag about, Remy," Mercy replied.

"They never offered you a spot either," Gambit said.

"What are your powers?" Aimee asked Jimmy and Artie, deciding this was a disturbing turn of conversation.

"Oh, uhh, power negation," Jimmy replied.

"And I've got enhanced agility, speed and smell," Artie said. "And the coolest tongue ever."

He poked it out so they could see his blue forked tongue.

"That is cool," Aimee agreed. "I bet you could have all sorts of fun with that. Are you two brothers or something?"

"Us? No," Jimmy replied in surprise. "We're just room mates."

"Désolé," Aimee replied. "I just thought you have green skin, he has a lizard tongue, y'know. Anyway, my bad."

"Are you still teaching?" Henri asked Gambit.

"Oui," Gambit replied. "They have a power dampener hooked up in my classroom though. It's not much fun, but the last thing I want to do is start blowing up students. We've got power dampeners in a few other places as well—especially now that we have a surplus of them since Legacy—but not too many; they're mostly for safety and 'in case of emergency'. Anyone with twenty-four hour powers finds them a little disconcerting."

"Not me," Artie said proudly. "Jimmy wasn't able to control his powers for so long, I've gotten used to them going on and off."

"Does that mean your tongue changes as well?" Aimee asked curiously.

"Yeah," Artie nodded. "Now that's an odd sensation."

* * *

**AN: **I'd like to thanks my best friend Joyful for her input on this chapter. I don't know that I really took your advice as fast as you would have liked regarding the ending, but I couldn't think of anything else to say, heh.

WatchingCat suggested the "Cage Fighter" shirt

ScRuPuLoUs suggested the "DADD" shirt

XOXheartAmy suggested the equipment joke

For everyone who was chomping at the bit for a sex scene: there you have one now.

Also, I love Aimee. Hehehe.

And now that you've done reading this, if you haven't already, you need to read "Kiss and Make Up" and "One out of Three" by aiRo25. Heck for that matter you should go and read everything by aiRo25, if you haven't already, because she's awesome *nods*


	66. I Do Bad Things

**AN:** Question: How many of you are interested in Mignonette/Sebastien?  
Because a couple of people have been expecting/wanting them to get together, yet I never had any plans to do so. In any case I wouldn't expect anything to happen between them until their mid twenties anyway, because any earlier seems uncharacteristic to me, and this story is going to end before we reach that point, but still, I'm curious!

* * *

**Chapter 65: I Do Bad Things**

It was dark and Gambit was awake. He could practically feel the energy cracking at his fingers and he knew there was no way he could make it to the gym without blowing things up the whole trip. Heck, he wasn't even sure he was going to make it out of bed without charging something.

"Roguey?" he said softly, shaking his girlfriend gently. "Roguey?"

"Mmmft? What?" Rogue grumbled.

"Désolé ma chère," he said. "I can't... I need... I won't make it to the gym."

Rogue grunted. As his hand was on her arm, Rogue began the absorption. She felt Gambit relax next to her and at the same time she also felt his desperation/despair/frustration, his hatred of having to turn to her for help and feeling helpless in his own body.

Of course, absorbing all that energy just served to wake Rogue up too. With a sigh she turned over to face Gambit and wrapped her arms around him.

"Are you sure brain surgery isn't an option, chère?" he asked quietly.

"You can do this, Remy," Rogue said firmly. "I can't do a thing with your powers that you can't do, except store more. You _can_ turn down your generation rate. You have to believe me."

"I don't know how."

* * *

There was no short of staring at the breakfast table the next morning when the LeBeau's found Gambit surrounded with plates of food; eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes slathered in whipped cream and maple syrup.

"Some of that's for the rest of us, right?" Mercy said cautiously.

"Non, you can get your own breakfast," Gambit replied.

"Wow, you sure eat a lot more than you used to," Aimee giggled.

"It's that metabolism thing, oui?" Henri asked as he sat down at the table with his newspaper and breakfast.

"Oui. If my metabolism is busy using up the calories from all this," Gambit said gesturing to the plates with his fork, "then I'm not accidentally blowing stuff up."

Rogue shook her head in undisguised disgust and Mercy caught it.

"Never knew he was such a pig?" Mercy asked her.

"Oh it's not so much that as... well, this is just a stop gap," Rogue said. "Everyone—including me—keeps finding ways to deal with the excess energy he's been generating, but ultimately, he has to stop generating so much in the first place."

Gambit was silent and continued to eat.

"Well," Mercy said, "I think we should advise the kitchen to make sure there's plenty of extra food then. I'm sure that Remy'll be able to get things under control sooner or later. Never knew him to step down from a challenge yet."

"What's the challenge? To clean out the kitchen?" Sebastien joked. "Hey Remy, if you come to my work one night, my boss will love you."

Gambit chuckled.

"Hey," Gambit said. "I hear you got a tattoo?"

"Oui—" Sebastien began.

"After breakfast," Mercy said. "There will be no shredding of clothes at the table."

"Oooh," Gambit said gleefully. "Did you get one in one of _those_ places?"

"Nah, it's just on my chest," Sebastien replied.

"Hmm," Gambit considered. "Roguey?"

"No," Rogue replied firmly.

After breakfast, Sebastien removed his shirt so that interested parties could see the large dragon tattoo he had gotten. It covered the whole right side of his torso and Gambit observed that it covered up any hint of scarring that may have resulted from Marcus carving his name in him two years back.

"Nice work," Gambit said. "Looks great, Sebby."

"Thanks," Sebastien replied.

* * *

Two nights later, Rogue and Gambit returned home rather late from an evening out with Henri and Mercy. Upon their return, they realised that the light in the living room was still on. Jean-Luc would normally be asleep at this hour and Sebastien was at work, so that left only three possible people who would still be up.

There were five in the living room when they opened the door. They were gathered around the table playing poker... _Strip_ poker.

Jimmy, Artie, Leon and Alex were all shirtless, with Artie and Leon down to their boxers, Jimmy barely holding onto his pants and Alex doing only marginally better. Aimee, on the other hand, was more or less fully dressed with a large pile of clothes at her side, and was unperturbed by their unexpected visitors.

"Uhh hi," said Alex nervously.

"Hi Monsieur LeBeau," Leon added. "Madame."

Jimmy and Artie looked at each other, then back at the table and avoided looking at any of the newcomers.

"Hey, you folding or calling or what?" Aimee demanded.

Gambit cracked up laughing.

"You're folding," Henri said firmly. "You're all folding and getting dressed. Alex, Leon, get your butts back home. The rest of you go to bed. Now."

"Aww Père," Aimee complained. "I was winning."

"Just how long have you been playing strip poker for?" Henri demanded.

"Oh, about two hours," Aimee replied smugly. "And they never got to see a thing."

Gambit laughed even harder.

"You're not helping," Henri said tersely to Gambit, then turned back to his daughter. "I didn't mean tonight, I meant over all."

"Long enough to know I can do better than Leon and Alex," Aimee replied saucily.

"Hey!" Leon objected in the middle of pull his shirt back on.

"What?" Aimee asked innocently. "Clearly I am a better poker player than you."

Gambit was now clutching his sides and doubled over with laughter. Henri rubbed the bridge of his nose while Alex and Leon departed.

"Aimee, what are we going to do with you?" Mercy asked in exasperation.

"Adore me," Aimee replied. "I'm cute."

"Mon dieu," Gambit gasped out between his laughter. "I can't wait to give you your Christmas present, petite. It's even better than I thought."

"And you," Henri said, turning on his brother where he lay on the floor. "You only visit once a year but clearly that's far too often. No one encourages her more than you do, I swear."

"Somehow I doubt Aimee needs any encouragement from me," Gambit replied, "or anyone else for that matter. Aimee!"

"Oui?" she inquired.

"Have all the fun you can while you can," Gambit advised her. "Before they pin you down at a desk and call you Matriarch."

"Remy!" Mercy exclaimed.

"Also," Gambit went on cheerfully. "You are officially my favourite relative. You remind me of me."

Aimee giggled.

"Actually now that you mention it," Henri said with mock-thoughtfulness. "Playing poker, playing strip poker with multiple members of the opposite sex, having the audacity to steal Tante Mattie's ring—"

"What's this?" Gambit asked, intrigued.

"—and getting away with it with nothing more than a mild scolding..." Henri raised an eyebrow at Mercy. "Did you and Remy have an affair?"

"Don't insult me," Mercy replied.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's this about Tante Mattie's ring?" Gambit asked, finally pulling himself up off the floor.

"You're really into ring stealing, aren't you?" Rogue said.

Aimee grinned.

"It turns out," Henri said with dry pride, "that when Aimee was six, she sneaked into Tante Mattie's room, stole one of her rings and then gave it back to her an hour later saying 'I think you dropped this'. Tante gave her the ring for her sixteenth birthday, which is the first we'd ever heard about it."

"I stole from Tante Mattie once," Gambit said cheerfully. "I stole her recipe for Crepes Suzette and she had no idea until she was eating it."

Aimee giggled.

"All this is hardly the point," Mercy said firmly. "I don't care how good a poker player you think you are, young lady. No betting money and no betting clothes."

"Where the fun in playing then?" Aimee asked. "I'm going to get fat if we go back to betting chocolate."

"You're a smart fille," Mercy replied dryly. "I'm sure you'll think of something. Now, off to bed with you. Remy, I'll let you deal with your... friends."

"Oui, Maman," Aimee replied with an unrepentant grin as she walked out the door.

"She'll think of something, all right," Henri muttered as he and Mercy followed their daughter out. "That's what I'm afraid of."

Then it was only Gambit, Rogue, Jimmy and Artie left.

"All right," Gambit said, grinning away. "First of all, you two are definitely going to have to improve on your game before you take on a LeBeau again. Secondly, when we get back to Xaviers, don't get caught playing strip poker—or strip anything for that matter. Logan will have your hide."

"You're not going to tell us not to play it at all?" Artie asked cautiously.

"Why?" Gambit asked. "I'd be a hypocrite if I did that. Also, never pressure anyone into playing strip games with you. It just makes people embarrassed and uncomfortable and probably comes under the category of sexual harassment. Not cool."

* * *

The following night was the night of the combined Guild Christmas party, of which Jimmy and Artie were allowed to attend alongside Gambit and Rogue as guests of the LeBeau's. It wasn't unusual for members of the different Guilds to be involved with people outside the Guilds, and now that bloodshed between the Thieves and Assassins was no longer a major concern, people were feeling more comfortable with inviting others.

Someone else who brought along a guest was Mignonette, who was with her boyfriend.

"See?" Aimee insisted, holding Rogue's sleeve and pointing at her friend. "I told you he was hot."

"Hmm, not bad," Rogue considered. "But I've seen better."

Aimee pulled a very unlady-like face as Rogue winked at Gambit. "Eww."

"There is a way to test it though," Rogue joked. "We can have an egg-frying contest."

Aimee laughed in spite of herself.

"Hmm, I should ask Mignonette to dance again," Gambit mused. "I bet I can freak out Bella Donna, Mignonette _and_ the boyfriend."

"I don't think so," Rogue replied dryly.

"Oorrr I should see if I can ask Bella Donna to dance," Gambit said gleefully.

"Run, Aimee," Rogue advised, "before he cons you into one of his schemes."

Aimee laughed, but she did split off to mingle with her friends, dragging Jimmy and Artie along with her. In the midst of plotting whether he could get close enough to Bella Donna to ask her to dance, Gambit spotted Sarah.

"Excusez-moi a moment, chère," he said softly.

He pulled away from the group and made his way over to where Sarah was standing off to the side. A cup of punch was in her hand.

"Bonsoir, chérie," Gambit said as he approached. "I missed you last year."

"Oh hi Remy," Sarah replied. "I decided to skip the party."

"Evidently. How're you holding up?" Gambit asked.

"I'm okay," she said quietly.

There was quiet for a moment.

"You're not still working, are you?" Gambit asked.

"What? Me? No," Sarah shook her head. "They have me in therapy."

"Bon."

"The Thieves aren't the only ones who take care of their own, you know," Sarah said reproachfully.

"Never said we were," Gambit replied. "I was just checking. I was worried about you."

"Thanks, but I'm fine."

"Well, if you ever need anything, you can call me any time," Gambit said seriously. "For that matter, if you ever decide to come up to New York, I'd love to see you. You'd fit right in with my crowd too."

Sarah laughed softly.

"I'll keep that in mind," she promised.

While Gambit and Sarah was talking, Sebastien approached Rogue.

"Remy's left you all alone?" he asked.

"I can handle my own," Rogue replied. "It's Jimmy and Artie with your sister I'm worried about."

Sebastien laughed.

"Hey, how's the apprenticeship coming anyway?" Rogue asked curiously.

"One month left," Sebastien replied. "Don't tell anyone I said this, but I think I actually like cooking better than stealing."

Rogue chuckled softly.

"Your secret's safe with me," she assured him.

"Care to dance?"

"Sure, why not?"

They danced for a song, during which Gambit and Sarah also took to the floor. Come song end, Gambit swooped in on them and cut in. Two more songs later, Gambit lead Rogue by where Mignonette and her boyfriend were dancing. The boyfriend started in surprise when he saw Gambit's eyes.

"What?" Mignonette asked, then noticed Gambit and rolled her eyes. "Oh him."

"Good evening, chérie," Gambit said pleasantly. "That's a lovely accessory you're wearing."

Mignonette touched her necklace.

"Merci," she said demurely.

Gambit's eyes glinted with mischief and he asked slyly: "What's his name?"

"Raul," Mignonette deadpanned while her boyfriend visibly jerked.

"Sorry about him," Rogue said. "He just can't help himself. Remy, behave."

"Of course, of course," Gambit said cheerfully. "May I cut in?"

"If you must," Mignonette said resignedly.

Instead of taking Mignonette's hand however, Gambit took Raul's and managed to take him for a swing before Raul succeeded in pulling away.

"You are such a freak," Mignonette informed him with the imperiousness of her mother. "What ma mere ever saw in yo-ur père I will never know."

"Well, we're a lot alike," Gambit replied cheekily as he leaned into her. "If we take this up to the bedroom you can find out."

Mignonette slapped him, turned on her heel and strode off with Raul. Gambit just laughed and Rogue gave him a dark look. Yeah, he was going to cop it for that one, but Gambit felt it was completely worth it for the chance to unnerve them.

"Your cousin," Mignonette informed Aimee, "is a freak."

"What? For dancing with Raul?" Aimee asked with a giggle. "That was funny."

Mignonette then proceeded to inform her younger friend just what Gambit had said to provoke her to slap him. Aimee shook her head.

"You should have called his bluff," Aimee told her, nodding eagerly with eyes bright with mischief. "He and Rogue are practically engaged. There's no way he would have let things go that far."

"Hmm," Mignonette considered. "Perhaps next time."

* * *

"Oh look what I found, chère," Gambit said gleefully.

They were lying in his bed, doing some pre-going to sleep making out. Rogue's eyes fell on the handcuffs Gambit was holding up, which he'd just pulled out of one of the drawers of his beside table.

"Sure," she replied with false sweetness. "I will if you will."

"Pass," Gambit said, dropping them off the side of the bed.

"Uh huh. Double standard much?" Rogue said with a smirk.

"We all have double standards, chère," Gambit replied as he laid down back next to her in the bed. "Even those who claim they don't."

"Yeah, well, let me make this very clear to you, Swamp Rat," Rogue said, pointing her finger at him. "I'm not into bondage at all. It's creepy and off and I don't understand why _anyone_ would like it."

"Roguey, in all fairness," Gambit said seriously. "You haven't even had it classic vanilla. You don't know what you're into."

"Well, I'm not into _that_," Rogue said determinedly.

Gambit shrugged.

"Fortunately," he went on musingly, "I have a wide range of tastes. Fast, slow, kinky, rough, gentle, restrained, role playing...public."

"Noooooo way," Rogue said, her eyes wide with horror. "Absolutely no way whatsoever."

"But I like it public," Gambit replied with mischief. "I like the adrenaline rush you get when there's a risk of getting caught. It's a bit like stealing, actually. The greater the risk, the more fun it is."

Rogue made a whimpering noise and Gambit chuckled and caressed her cheek.

"Aww chère," he said gently. "We are going to have the rest of our lives together. That's going to be plenty of time to experiment and find out what you like. I promise I won't make you do anything you're uncomfortable with. All I ask is that you humour me once in a while. You never know. You might find you like it."

"Or not," Rogue muttered.

Gambit kissed her lips softly.

"For someone with so many different people in her head, I'm surprised you're not a little more open-minded," he said musingly. "Especially with me in there."

"Why?" Rogue asked. "I don't particularly care to lose myself in everyone else's preferences and opinions."

"Point taken," Gambit conceded.

"You'd better not do anything nasty on our wedding night," Rogue said suspiciously.

"The thought never even crossed my mind," he replied seriously. "Although I do hope that you've been...loosening the muscles down there, Roguey."

"Let's just say, your psyche's been giving me advice."

"Want some help?"

"No."

"Damn. My psyche has all the fun."

Rogue laughed in spite of herself. Then she snuggled into him and rested her head on his arm.

"You know something Remy? You freak me out sometimes."

"Only sometimes? Rats," Gambit joked. "I have to try harder."

"I mean, I love you, and I trust you and everything," Rogue added quickly, "but your sexual appetite scares me."

"Now you know why Logan was so worried about me teaching sex ed."

* * *

Christmas Day arrived and as usual before church, the LeBeaus and their guests gathered around the tree to exchange presents.

"What," Rogue asked Gambit, bemused when she got a soft present. "No jewellery for Christmas this year?"

"Non," Gambit replied taking her present to him in exchange. "Hmm I wonder what this could be?"

Simultaneously, they opened their presents. Rogue burst out laughing when she read hers and held it up for all to see:

_You're just jealous that the voices talk to me!_

Gambit grinned at her and then held up his own shirt.

"I do BAD things," Gambit read and chuckled. "So, so true."

"Good idea, Rogue," Henri said. "Warn everyone before they find out the hard way."

Gambit snickered and then passed a similar present to Aimee.

"Merry Christmas," he said.

"Thanks," Aimee replied and she pulled the wrapping off to reveal a shirt that made her burst into giggles. "Hey père! 'I Only Look Sweet and Innocent'."

"What was that you were saying about warning people before they find out the hard way?" Mercy asked Henri.

"They should make those shirts in baby sizes," Henri replied.


	67. Progress

**AN: **XOXheartAmy suggested the stereotypes scene**  
**

* * *

**Chapter 66: Progress  
**

Angelica stared at the paper in her hands. The total at the bottom of the page was shocking, obscene even. She didn't know what to think or what to do, and after spending ten minutes trying to comprehend what it was saying, let alone how on earth it had happened, it occurred to her that she should probably take this to Storm.

Finally armed with a coherent thought, Angelica made her way to Storm's office and knocked lightly on the door. She entered at Storm's "come in" and without a word, walked to her desk and held out the paper to the headmistress.

"Yes, Angelica, what is it?" Storm asked curiously as she took the page.

"The electricity bill for the last quarter," Angelica replied in a daze.

Storm glanced at the figure down the bottom and gasped loudly at the large number.

"What happened?" Storm exclaimed. "Surely we didn't use that much more electricity than usual?"

"Storm, look again," Angelica said. "It's a credit."

"What?" Storm questioned even as her eyes looked back at the page and noted the "CR" next to the number. "Oh!"

"They owe us," Angelica went on. "We have our own generators and batteries, so our bills are usually pretty small. It's going to take years, maybe even decades before we ever use this up."

"How..." Storm began, and then realisation dawned. "Remy's converter. He used that thing multiple times every day for a month."

"Of course," Angelica said, sounding relieved. "I couldn't think how we could possibly produce that much extra energy. Do you know where the converter is now?"

"It was set up in Remy's bedroom," Storm replied. "So he could have something to charge when he got up in the morning without blowing up half the mansion on the way to the danger room."

"Good place for it. We should probably get some more batteries."

"I was just thinking the same thing."

* * *

"I don't know," Rogue said with a sigh as she looked over the readouts from Gambit's power monitor with Hank. "Sometimes I feel like we're just running around in circles. All of this says that he can do it and he has been doing it, at least on an instinctive level, but for whatever reason he just can't seem to...to find the trigger to do it consciously."

Hank paused in his perusal and looked at Rogue thoughtfully.

"That's true," he said slowly.

"I tried meditation," Rogue went on glumly. "But he feels stupid doing it. I mean, he does genuinely make an effort but between feeling awkward and his powers making him jittery he can't focus properly. When he was in quarantine with Jimmy he tried to see if he could pick the difference between how his powers feel when they on, and when they're off and see if he could duplicate that. That didn't work either. We talked about it, but I don't think that's the answer. I mean, it might work for some people, but I don't think Remy can ever truly turn his powers off. I even tried talking to Emma, you know, to see if she could pick out how I do it and send Remy the information, because I just can't describe it, but Emma says the static generates too fast for her to get into his head any more."

"When does Remy slip the most?" Hank asked.

"When he's over-charged," Rogue replied.

"And what's the most likely cause when he'd not?"

"He's usually upset about something," Rogue said and looked at Hank curiously. "Do you have an idea?"

"Perhaps, instead of attempting to duplicate the efficiency he has in his accidents, we should instead attempt to hone his instinctual use," Hank suggested. "He clearly has some level of control, even if it is an emotional trigger—after all, only once has his actually charged a person."

"Me," Rogue said. "The day we found out he could charge living tissue. I know he's blown up plants and bugs and stuff, but he hasn't actually charged any _people_ since then. Of course, we also took precautions."

"Presumably, people or circumstances are the most likely irritation," Hank went on. "Hence most targets appear to be random items in his line of sight."

"If we gave him something specific to irritate him that he could focus on and explode without causing harm," Rogue considered seriously. "I guess we'd have to program something new. I doubt there are any pre-existing sims for this kind of thing."

"Unlikely," Hank agreed. "And it would probably be best—at least at first—if the sim seemed innocent so that he's not on guard."

"Agreed. Nothing too dramatic either... oh! What was that I said before? Bugs," Rogue said delightedly. "We could make a summer program or something, complete with flies! You know how pesky those things are—you swat at them and they keep coming back."

"And a small target too," Hank concurred with a nod. "Only a minor amount of energy would be required to perform the task."

"I should mix in the irritation programs in between my normal stuff," Rogue went on. "Change to different things and keep him in the dark as long as possible. Now, if only we can think of a way to train him into not generating quite so much energy in the first place. That's the part that's causing us the most trouble."

"Hopefully one will lead to the other," said Hank. "Perhaps talk to Jones about programming? I understand he's taken up programming sims late at night."

"Anything we should be concerned about?" Rogue asked with a quirk of her eyebrow.

"Actually I believe he's working on a movie," Hank replied. "At the very least, this project would give him further insight into the importance of details."

"Good idea. I'll do that."

* * *

Kurt sat down next to Gambit in the church. The service had just finished and he was just working off another absorption from Rogue. Granted, he was only there for a couple of hours each week, but the one place Gambit had never had a slip was at the church.

"Want something?" Gambit asked Kurt when nothing was said between them.

"Actually, I was going to ask you the same question," Kurt replied.

Gambit let out a long slow breath.

"Well, I would ask why God's doing this to me," Gambit replied, only half-joking, "except I think the fact that I'm a thief, a liar, a cheat, a murderer and a fraud, amongst other things, probably covers it."

"I have a better question for you," Kurt replied with a slight smile on his face. "Why is this happening now?"

"Come again?"

"As I understand it," Kurt said seriously, "when you were a teenager—the first time—you were downgraded by Stryker."

"Oui," Gambit replied grimly.

"What do you suppose would have happened if you hadn't been downgraded then?"

Gambit turned his head to appraise the blue furry mutant who was looking back at him with serious, compassionate eyes.

"That...that would have been a disaster," Gambit replied quietly. "I mean, here with the X-men, I have the DR, I have Rogue, power dampeners, the converter, the works. There's nothing like that at all back at the Guild."

In fact, the very idea made him sick, especially knowing he could charge living matter. Would he have killed Jean-Luc? Henri? Mercy? Bella Donna? What of Emil, Etienne and Theoren?

"Of course," Kurt went on. "We have no way of knowing what would have happened. However, I do know this much: God has a plan for all of us although we may never see nor understand the fine details. Bad times will come and go—this is true for all man, believers or no—but God turns all things around for good, even things we can't imagine any good coming from. In fact, although we may disagree, the bad times are just as important as the good times; they're what help us to grow. If things were good all the time, if there was no conflict, we'd never had a reason to change and improve ourselves."

Gambit gave a wry smile and nodded slowly.

"You're a smart guy, Kurt," he said.

"No," Kurt replied. "God is the smart one. I am only passing on His message."

* * *

A couple of weeks later, Rogue arrived at the danger room with picnic basket in hand. Gambit was already there, blowing off some energy.

"Hi Roguey," Gambit said, and then his eyes fell on the basket. "What's this?"

"Well," Rogue replied with a smile, "you've been working really hard lately, and I think you deserve a break from the routine. Computer: Run Picnic One."

Gambit smiled as the landscape change to a park setting. He closed the distance between them, rested his hands on her waist and kissed her lips softly.

"I didn't think we were allowed to bring food into the danger room?" he teased her.

"I won't tell if you won't," Rogue replied.

Gambit chuckled. They sat down on a holographic picnic blanket and Rogue pulled out the food.

"Besides," Rogue went on. "I think it's past time I cooked for you for a change."

"Aww chère," Gambit said. "I've had your cooking before."

"Yeah, when I'm on kitchen duty. That's not the same," Rogue replied, absently swishing at a fly.

Gambit chuckled and also swatted at a fly. "What the—there are _flies_ in this program?"

"I believe Jones was going for authenticity," Rogue said.

"A+ for attention to detail," Gambit said.

Rogue giggled. She pulled out the food from the basket and the two began to eat, swatting at more flies in the process.

"You know what we haven't done for awhile," Gambit said.

"What?" Rogue asked.

"Massages."

"Yeah, you're right," Rogue replied. "Why did we get out of the habit?"

"Your powers came back," Gambit said. "And you were forbidden from touching anyone."

"Right, and then Legacy happened and yeah," Rogue nodded. "We should start doing that again."

"Absolument," Gambit replied with a smile, which was promptly wiped away by the appearance of another fly. "Oh go away."

The fly exploded and Gambit sighed.

"Désolé, ma chère," he began.

"It was just a fly," Rogue dismissed. "An annoying holographic fly."

"I just wish I would stop blowing things up without meaning to," Gambit replied glumly.

Rogue cupped his face in her hands and kissed him softly.

"You'll get there," she assured him. "But let's not think about it right now. Let's just enjoy ourselves. We're safe in here."

Rogue was pleased to find that Gambit did manage to relax for the most part. She was even more delighted to find that the only things he blew up were the flies. After the third time Rogue blew off his misgivings about his lack of control, he eyed her suspiciously.

"Rogue?" he asked. "What are you up to?"

"Me? What makes you think I'm up to anything?" Rogue asked.

"That just confirms it," Gambit replied. "I can read you like a book, ma chère."

"Now just how do you know that?" Rogue teased him. "You never read books if you can avoid it."

"Don't change the subject," Gambit said.

Rogue giggled, wrapped her arms around him and kissed his lips.

"Now you're just trying to distract me," Gambit grumbled.

"Yep," Rogue replied and kissed him again, more deeply this time. "Is it working?"

"Oui."

* * *

Rogue went straight to the med lab after the picnic. Gambit stayed in the danger room to work off some more energy.

"I think you'll be pleased with the results," Hank informed Rogue as she entered. "Energy transference barely registered, just like in all his other accidental, spontaneous explosions."

"Hmm," Rogue considered as she check the readouts. "And he definitely only took out flies too."

She leaned forward and tapped her thumb against her teeth as she thought.

"Guess the best thing to do is to move onto larger targets," she said. "Increase the size gradually until he works out what's going on. I almost feel bad about plotting to irritate him."

Hank chuckled.

* * *

The scent of the massage oil filled Gambit's nose as he lay on the bed while Rogue worked her hands across his back. He'd missed this. He loved Rogue touching him and he found it very easy to relax. He didn't even feel twitchy from excess energy, which was nice.

After awhile, Rogue stopped and laid down next to him. He turned his head to look at her smiling face and smile back.

"My turn," she said.

"Front or back?" he teased her.

"Funny," she replied, eyed him suspiciously then added: "Back."

Gambit chuckled and sat up. Rogue pulled off her shirt, Gambit undid her bra and then went to work giving her a massage.

"Movie night?" Gambit suggested.

"Sure why not?" Rogue mused. "Haven't had one of those in awhile either."

* * *

"All right," Gambit said, looking at the sex ed class before him, all split up into groups. "Rogue is passing out a couple of stereotypes to each group. I'm going to give everyone a few minutes to draw what you think each person looks like."

Rogue finished handing out the papers and then walked up to the desk next to Gambit.

"This is the boring part," Gambit said with a nod.

"Yep," Rogue replied.

After spending a few minutes twiddling their thumbs (not literally), Gambit finally called the drawing session to an end. Gambit asked each group to nominate someone to stand up and show their pictures.

Paint was seated at the fourth and final table, which Gambit deliberately chose to go last; after all, Paint was quite the talented artist and he didn't want to make anyone go after her. This was the sex ed class for all the new students who weren't in the seventh grade, not an art class.

"Okay," said Jay Guthrie as he stood as spokesman for his table. "Well, this is our picture of a 30 year old male virgin."

He held up the picture, first to the back of the class—who laughed—and then to the front. Rogue immediately clamped her hand over her mouth, while Gambit succeeded in maintaining his composure.

"Hmm," he said thoughtfully. "I forgot to mention that you weren't supposed to draw real people. So I'm just going to assume that you haven't drawn Forge, especially as I'm sure he'd been pretty insulted you think he's thirty. What's your second one?"

"Well, uhh," Jay said, a little thrown off, and then picked up the second picture. "Sixteen year old male with wide sexual experience."

This time Gambit did laugh, for when the picture came around, it was a picture of him.

* * *

"How did it go?" Hank asked as Rogue walked into the med lab.

"The dragonflies annoyed the crap out of him," she reported as she made her way over to the computer. "Actually they annoyed the crap out of me too."

Hank chuckled.

"Well," he said. "I'm sure you'll be pleased with the results. He displayed his usual efficiency with each."

"Good," Rogue replied. "I think I'm going to have to change targets before he starts getting suspicious of all these bugs that have been annoying him in the DR lately. If he's not already. Sooner or later he's going to charge something just big enough for him to realise what he's doing before it explodes and that's there the fun will begin."

"Oh, that reminds me," Hank said. "I've been meaning to mention it to you. We've been getting an unusual reoccurring reading the last few weeks I haven't quite managed to identify."

"Yeah?" Rogue asked as Hank pulled up the relevant screens.

"They seem to happen fairly irregularly, usually in the evening. All I know is he's not in the DR," Hank said. "There, he doesn't appear to be generating as much energy. Normally a gradual increase like this is a sign he's using a lot of energy, however, there's no transference, no explosion triggers, and as you can see the black line that indicates internal use is normal."

"So, he's not healing, just enhancing," Rogue said thoughtfully. "What's the time stamp? Oh I see. What was he doing... Oh, I think we were having a movie night that night. Well, he definitely wasn't using any. Unless... that was fairly early in the evening... he wasn't using the converter, was he?"

"No," Hank replied. "When he uses the converter we get transference. And I know you didn't absorb him because we get a completely difference transference reading... there."

"Okay, that's definitely not it then," Rogue said in bemusement. "Okay well, we're having another one tomorrow night. Is it possible to set this up to alert me if it happens again?"

"Yes," Hank replied. "We'll have it ring your phone."

"All right then. This should be interesting."

* * *

The following night, Rogue was in the middle of giving Gambit a massage when her phone rang. Rogue reached over carefully—her fingers smelling of massage oil—and glanced at the brief message that flashed on her screen. Rogue frowned slightly and went back to the massage.

"Who was that?" Gambit asked.

"Hmm?"

"The phone?"

"Oh, just one of those automated messages," Rogue dismissed.

Why wasn't Gambit generating as much energy right now? Was the massage significant, or just coincidence? Was it her?

Inevitably, the massage session came to a close and Rogue pushed her questions aside.

* * *

Gambit woke up the next morning while it was still rather dark, as usual. The first thing he did though, was charge up the converter. He loved that converter. It meant he didn't have to go down to the danger room straight away and he could just stay in bed with Rogue on the nights she slept over. Of course, he would have liked it better if he didn't _have_ to use it. It wasn't nearly as fun as a good workout either, but at least he didn't have to worry about blowing things up on the day to the danger room first thing in the morning any more.

Of course, Rogue wouldn't be awake for another three or fours hours and Gambit considered that to be a long time for him to bum around in bed. After spending a few minutes snuggling with her, he did end up going to the danger room. He had a good workout, returned to his room and showered. By the time he was done in the ensuite, Rogue was awake.

"Morning sugar," she said. "Have a good workout?"

"Oui," Gambit replied as he finished drying off his hair.

"Ready to meditate with me?" she teased him.

"Ugh," he mumbled.

Rogue chuckled and sat down on the floor. It was far too cold to go out on the balcony. With a sigh, Gambit sat down in front of her and silence enveloped them.

Inevitably, Rogue began to feel the vibration that told her Gambit's leg was bouncing up and down and she stifled a sigh of her own. Why couldn't he just relax? It would be so much more easier if he could—oooooh!

Rogue's eyes shot open and fell on her restless boyfriend. Of course! It made so much more sense now. A big grin appeared on her face as she stood. Gambit opened his eyes and looked as Rogue moved behind him.

"chère?" he inquired.

"Here," Rogue said as she knelt down and put her hands on his shoulders. "I'll help you relax, you concentrate on your powers."

"'Kay," he replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

Who was he to pass on a massage from his girlfriend? Of course, it was hard to concentrate on his powers at first—naturally, he'd rather think about Rogue's hands on him—but he soon found it was a lot easier to concentrate on his powers with her at his back than without. He didn't even notice when his leg stopped bouncing.

His concentration was then shattered by Rogue's phone ringing.

"Should have turned that off," Rogue muttered. "Sorry."

"Well, we had to finish soon anyway," Gambit dismissed. "Not that I ever want you to stop with those hands of yours, chère."

Rogue chuckled softly.


	68. P Is For

**Chapter 67: P Is For... **

Gambit wasn't stupid. Once a week he and Rogue would take a break from the various shooting gallery sims and run something different just 'for a break'. It wasn't that Gambit begrudged spending time with Rogue—not by any means—it was just that he knew that romance was not on her mind. She was definitely up to something and every time he asked her about it, she found some way to distract him, usually by kissing him. Worst part about it was that she knew exactly how he liked to be kissed; damn psyche conspiring against him.

But Gambit thought he figured it out. The sims they were 'testing' for Jones all had one thing in common: he ended up blowing up the native insect life. Clearly Rogue was trying to help him train out of having accidents all the time and the different sims were either just for variety or a misguided attempt to keep him in the dark.

He hated the idea that he was letting her down.

Gambit stepped into the danger room. The women of the mansion had taken the female students downtown for a bra-fitting trip, so Rogue wasn't here for his usual afternoon session. He opened his mouth to run one of the programs they used to work on his technique and shut it just as quickly. Forget that. He was going to have a break. A _real_ break. He wasn't in the mood to think about this stuff. He was tired of practicing.

"Computer: Run Pirates."

Today he was going to have fun. He would use up as much energy as he _wanted_ not as he _had to_, and then just use the converter for the excess.

Today—or at least for the next hour—he was Captain LeBeau, Scourge of the Seven Seas.

* * *

That evening, Gambit opened his bedroom door to find Rogue standing there with her hands behind her back.

"Roguey," he said, greeting her with a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Hi sugar," Rogue replied as she stepped inside. "I got you something."

"Oh goody," Gambit replied while he shut the door behind her.

He turned to face her and Rogue held her hands out with a box in them.

"I thought," she said, almost shyly, "that as you had promised me you'd propose one day, I thought I'd promise you I'd say 'yes'."

Gambit cracked a smile, although it didn't reach his eyes. How long would it take for him to get things under control?

"Merci, chère," he said, almost reluctantly accepting the box.

"Open it," she encouraged him.

Gambit sat down on the edge of the bed and lifted the lid of the box. The smile turned into a grin that did reached his eyes when he realised what he was looking at a black lace lingerie set.

"I don't think it's my size," he teased her.

"Ha, funny," Rogue replied with a smirk. "It's my size. I got fitted as a D today."

"About time," Gambit replied with a wink. "Wedding day?"

"Honeymoon. I'm wearing white on our wedding day."

Gambit nodded and put the lid back on the box, setting it aside. Rogue looked at him curiously.

"What? No smart-alec response? Not even a 'I look forward to it'?" she asked.

"Don't have to," he replied. "You just made it for me."

He wondered if he would even get to see her wear it, or if she'd give up waiting for him to get his powers under control. Sure she was fine with waiting now, but at the rate things were going it could take years.

"That I did," Rogue said, bemused. "How'd training go this afternoon?"

Gambit shrugged.

"S'fine," he replied.

Rogue nodded thoughtfully. "Get rid of enough energy?"

"Enough." It was true. A little to his surprise, when he left the danger room after playing Pirates, he didn't need to use the converter to do any draining. Must have used up more energy than he thought. There was that big explosion he made when he and his holographic crew went digging up treasure...

"Okay cool," she replied. "I, umm, I've actually got some good news. Better than good, actually. Exciting even."

"Oh yeah?" Gambit asked, sounding amused.

"You've been doing it," Rogue informed him, her eyes shining. "At first it was just whenever I was giving you a massage, but you did it this afternoon as well, for three hours."

"Did what?"

"You turned down your generation rate."

Gambit stared at her. "I did?"

"Uh huh."

"You serious?"

"Yes, I'm serious."

"But...but how?"

"You tell me, sugar," Rogue replied, grinning at him. "We—Hank and I—noticed it when the massages started again. I started doing them again during your mediation and you started doing it then too. I think—and I can't prove this, so I could be wrong—but I think that you were so busy feeling silly meditating that you were tensing up and blocking yourself. The massages helped relax you so..."

"Wait, so you're saying that in order to control my generation rate I need to be relaxed?" Gambit asked.

"No," Rogue said, shaking her head. "Well, I don't think it's so much that you need to be relaxed normally in order to turn your power down. I mean, it should be something that comes as second nature to you. I think that, well, let's be honest here Remy, you haven't been able to control your powers for well over a year now. I think it's safe to say you've been stressed, and that's probably hindered your ability to teach yourself how to control it. Hence, you needed to be able to relax in order to figure out how to do it. I wasn't really sure if I should mention the massages to you, and then today you spontaneously turned your generation down yourself for _three hours._"

"Three hours," Gambit repeated trying to take in what she had said, but being more overwhelmed by the look of happy pride on Rogue's face. "Now I feel completely justified in playing Pirates again."

Rogue laughed.

"Pirates?" she inquired. "You were playing pirates?"

"Aye matey," he replied with a wink. "It was a very...relaxing afternoon. You know, chère, I didn't think I'd used that much energy up in the DR."

"Well, you were right," she said, grinning at him. "And now you just have to figure out how to do it all the time. I'm afraid I can't really help you with that—beyond massages—in the short term. I don't exactly have your powers 24/7. Butbutbut...if you can figure this out, Remy, you'll cut down on like, ninety percent of your accidents."

"And the other ten percent?" Gambit asked wryly.

"Hopefully technique will help you deal with that, however," Rogue said seriously. "Everyone here has accidents. C'mon you were here while Storm was pregnant. Bobby hasn't yet mastered not freezing things in his sleep, although I understand he's better than he was. The whole point of practising is to improve your control and drive that margin of error down."

Gambit nodded slowly. He would have argued that his accidents could potentially hurt people, but then so could Storm's or Bobby's, so that wasn't really a convincing argument. Still...

"And here I was thinking I wasn't getting anywhere," he said.

Rogue chuckled and wrapped her arms around him.

"You've been doing great," she assured him. "Maybe not great by your exacting standards, but then you never go down to the med lab to check out the hard data either."

"Well, that's true," Gambit conceded, absently rubbing her arm. "I should probably do that."

"Yep," Rogue agreed.

"Roguey?"

"Yeah?"

"Do _you_ have to check the data?" he asked.

"Well, it's useful information after our training sessions. I like to see how much energy is involved in the transference. It's on a steady decline, by the way," Rogue added with a nod, although as she was sitting behind him he couldn't see it.

"Yeah, but do you _have_ to?" Gambit pressed. "I mean, if I was checking it, couldn't I just tell you the results?"

"Well, I guess," she replied reluctantly. "Why?"

"Man's gotta have some secrets from his future wife," Gambit replied determinedly.

Rogue laughed.

"If you don't know how I'm doing with the generation rate thing," he went on, "then you won't have any idea of when I'll pop the question for real and I can surprise you."

"Okay," Rogue agreed, and kissed his neck. "And I promise I won't absorb you either, unless it's an emergency."

"D'accord. So...how about one of those massages?"

* * *

It surprised Gambit just how easy it was after that. That one conversation proved to be a catalyst; the dose of hope he didn't even know he needed. Now alert that he was doing it, he spent his mediation and massage sessions with Rogue trying to figure out exactly how he was doing with it. Discussions with Hank on the matter showed that at first his attempts—even during massage and mediation—were erratic, but Gambit refused to be dissuaded.

Then he found it.

In some ways, it was actually like the Monk Story; Gambit could finally understand why Rogue could never really explain how she was able to control the generation rate when she had use of his powers. He wasn't sure he could ever explain how he was doing it either. All he knew was that he could finally regulate how much energy he generated. He could feel it, or rather he could _not_ feel it. No excess energy cracking between his fingers, no hair standing on end, he could even stop the restless bouncing of his legs when he sat, which was something he never thought he'd be capable of.

He'd never stop playing with his cards though. Just 'cause it was a well ingrained (but fun) habit.

And it had a tendency to annoy people.

Gambit hadn't imagined when he'd ask Rogue not to look at the data any more that he would have the hang of it in just three weeks. He had been thinking it would be months. It didn't stop with the generation rate either; he also found he had better control over how much energy he used in his sight-blasts, to the point where he deliberately made them larger in his training sessions with Rogue just so she wouldn't know. As soon as she left the danger room, however, he'd turn up the level on the training session and play for real, just for fun and not because he needed to use up energy.

Everyone noticed that Gambit was a lot happier too. They'd all heard that he was starting to get control and rightly put it down to that, but Hank was the only one who had any idea of just how much control Gambit had. Although, Emma—and possibly Betsy and the telepathic students—may have been able to guess from the amount of static about his mind.

* * *

"Aww cute," said Jubilee as she held up the pretty pink invitation. "A birthday party for Kendall."

"A themed birthday party," Angelica said. "We have to show up as something starting with P."

"Different," Sam said. "Although one does have to wonder why Storm and Logan would do a themed party at all, let alone for a two year old who isn't even going to remember the event."

"Because it's fun," Jubilee replied.

"I didn't think Logan and Storm were into dress-ups either," Bobby said, then grinned and added: "Although that said, we don't know what they get up to in the bedroom..."

"You have been hanging around Remy far too much," Jubilee informed him.

"Hey I'll have you know I've been making perverted comments long before I met Remy," Bobby insisted. "Of course, he did help me to refine my technique..."

"Idiot."

"I've already decided what we're going as," Kitty interjected. "Princess and the Pea. I'm gonna be the Princess, Pete's the Prince and Meredith is the Pea."

Laughter followed. Pete avoided everyone's gaze and kept his eyes on his sleeping baby girl in his arms.

"Hey Roguey," Gambit said. "You should go as a princess. You have the tiara."

Rogue laughed.

"I have a feeling there are going to be a lot of princesses," Betsy mused.

"Probably," Rogue agreed.

"I know what I'm going as," Tabitha announced.

"A prostitute?" Bobby suggested.

"Please," Tabitha scorned. "That's too obvious."

"A penis?"

"Please someone do that," Gambit said, nodding his head. "I want to see the look on Logan's face..."

"You do it," Tabitha replied. "I'm going as a pop star."

"That works," Jubilee said. "Oooh, maybe I'll go as a punk."

"I may go as a pimp," Bobby said.

"I say again: Idiot," Jubilee replied.

"Non," Gambit said. "I can't go as a penis. I'm already going as a prestidigitator."

"A what now?" Tabitha asked.

"A prestidigitator," Gambit repeated with a grin. "A magician, someone who practices sleight of hand or légèreté des mains, to entertain."

"Oh cool," Bobby said. "Hey you'd be awesome at that."

"I know."

"You could go as a prestidigitator's assistant, Rogue," Kitty said with a giggle. "You could pull off the sexy outfit."

"Yeah," Tabitha agreed. "Like a playboy bunny. Ooooh! I could do that instead of the pop star!"

"Or you could do a porn star," Bobby said.

"Stop giving her ideas," Jubilee scolded.

"Oh you know Tabby would have thought of it eventually," Bobby pointed out.

"It's true," Tabitha replied.

"What other things start with P?" Sam mused. "A producer. A...pest exterminator."

Giggles followed.

"A personal assistant," Sam went on. "A... I don't know."

"That doesn't start with P," Rogue teased him. "Press? Photographer? Paparazzi?"

"Hey Bobby," Jubilee said gleefully. "You could go as a Pizza delivery boy."

Bobby laughed.

* * *

Thus come the eleventh of April, the hosts and guests gathered in the ballroom which was suitability decorated for a themed, two-year-old birthday party. Everyone all dressed up as things starting with P, some with more enthusiasm than others.

Logan, for example, looked exactly like himself, only with an eyepatch.

"Well," Gambit mused. "I suppose you can come to your party as your own alias, Patch."

"And don't you forget it," Logan replied. "At least I don't look like a penguin."

Gambit was dressed in a tuxedo, complete with tails, bow tie and top hat. He'd also brought along his staff, using it at half height for a cane. As always, he had a deck of cards on him.

"No, you look like a pirate wannabe," Gambit replied glibly, and then pointed across the room to Kurt. "Now Kurt looks like a pirate."

Kurt certainly looked very impressive as a pirate. Gambit rather suspected he put a lot of years and effort into putting together that costume.

Storm scared everyone when she showed up as a punk, complete with mohawk. She had to do a lot a reassuring that she hadn't actually cut her hair (a headmistress with a mohowk would go down _real_ well) and was using one of Forge's partial image inducers. Kendall looked adorable as a pixie.

Rogue had been torn between coming as a princess and using her tiara as Gambit suggested, and coming as a pool shark. However, as there wasn't anything particularly exciting about a pool shark costume, and conversation revealed that Kitty was the only other X-men who planned on coming as a princess (she had no idea about the students), Rogue decided to use the excuse to wear her tiara. Today was also her twenty-fourth birthday, and Rogue amused herself with the thought that if she hadn't regressed, she and Kendall would probably be having a combined birthday party.

Kitty, Pete and Meredith came "Princess and the Pea" themed as planned. Tabitha finally decided on a pop rock star and Jubilee joined her, the girls deciding they were in a band. Bobby followed them around as a member of the paparazzi. Betsy also came as a photographer. Warren came as a peregrine falcon.

Tracy came as Pippi Longstocking. Angelica and Sam came as a playwright and a plagiarist respectively. Roberto decided he was a philanderer. John was a pikeman.

Forge was disappointed that the letter was P and not B, so he couldn't come as Batman. Instead, he decided to come as the Phantom and programmed an image inducer accordingly.

Domino and Paige decided to go as preschoolers. Cypher borrowed an image inducer and programmed a pterodactyl costume. Danielle showed up as a pastry chef. Rictor heard Jubilee's Pizza delivery boy idea and adopted it when he found out Bobby wouldn't.

"Hellion," said Rusty in his paperweight costume and looking at Hellion in his football gear with raised eyebrows, "I'm not sure if you're aware, but 'football' starts with F, not 'PH'."

"Very funny," Hellion replied. "I'm a _professional_ football player."

"Oh, well, that makes all the difference then."

"Hey at least he didn't come as himself," pointed out Sally in her physician costume, "Unlike Emma who came as a psychic. Hey Rahne, what are you?"

"A party animal," replied Rahne, who was partially in wolf form, wearing a party hat and armed with blowers and streamers.

Jimmy, Artie, Risque and James had all dressed up as 'poker players'. Gambit decided he was better off not asking.

Flash!

"Bobby," Rogue complained, blinking away the light that went off in her face.

"What?" Bobby asked innocently. "I'm paparazzi. I'm supposed to get in the faces of celebrities and royalty. It's in the job description."

Rogue put her hands on her hips and glared at him. If anything, the pose only served to make her already dazzling appearance all the more striking. Her long green dress had a split up the side and you could see her silver shoes. In addition to her tiara, she was also wearing a couple of necklaces that Gambit had given her that would look tasteful together, dangling emerald earrings and a couple of rings in addition to her promise ring.

"Bobby, if you want to keep that camera in one piece," Rogue replied tersely, "you will not set the flash off in my face again. Is that clear?"

"Crystal!" Bobby replied cheerfully.

Rogue turned her back on him and almost collided with Paint. Paint's tattoos were all gone and instead her body was painted brightly red, green, blue, yellow, purple and orange.

"Wow," Rogue said. "What are you supposed to be?"

"A painting," Paint replied with a giggle.

"I like it," Rogue said with a grin. "Are you going to stay like this after the party? Or put your tattoos back?"

"New tattoos," Paint answered.

"Well, I'm sure they'll look just as amazing as your old ones."

"They'll look better."

"Bonjour mes amis," Gambit said and fanned his deck of cards out to Paint. "Pick a card any card."

Paint bit her bottom lip and carefully pulled out a card. While she looked at it, Gambit turned his head away and pressed the cards back together.

"Okay, now put it back in the deck," Gambit instructed.

Paint complied. Gambit turned his head back, flicked through the cards and promptly pulled out and three of clubs.

"Is this your card, petite?" Gambit asked.

"Yep," Paint replied with a giggle. "How'd you do that?"

"Magic," Gambit said seriously.

"It's called sleight of hand," Kitty corrected dryly.

"Wanna see me pull a rabbit out of my hat?" Gambit asked.

"You haven't seriously got a live rabbit on you?" Kitty asked.

Gambit chuckled and lifted his hat off.

"As you can see a perfectly ordinary hat," Gambit said holding it out so she could look inside, which she did with a bemused smile on her face. "Ahh, but with a wave of my hand and presto!"

There was mild applause as Gambit pulled a stuffed toy bunny out of his hat. He gave a slight bow and then presented to Kitty.

"For Meredith," he said slyly.

"Thanks Remy," Kitty replied with a grin.

"No problem, Chaton," Gambit replied grandly. "And now to play tricks on the birthday girl."

There was finger food and balloons. Paint gave anyone who asked a temporary face painting. Gambit continued to do his magic tricks. Eventually cake was brought out and they all sang happy birthday to Kendall, who was more interested in presents.

"Well," Storm said to everyone, "I'd like to thank you all for coming. Not that, given that most of us live here, it was hard to miss anyway."

Laughter followed. Storm then proceeded to thank everyone who helped set up.

"Finally," Storm said. "There's someone else who has...something to say. Remy?"

"Ahem," Gambit said and then showed everyone his sleeves. "Nothing up my sleeve and hey, presto!"

There was some giggling as Gambit produced a red rose from...somewhere, and presented it to Rogue who was standing next to him. The amused expression on her face swiftly turned to one of shock, however, when her eyes fell on the rose and realised it wasn't a real rose, it was a jewellery box crafted into the shape of one.

The cheers and 'aww's that followed as Gambit knelt down on one knee before her seemed to fade into nothing more than background noise as she met his eyes. She knew his power control had been improving, but she hadn't expected anything so soon.

"Rogue," he said seriously. "When we first met, I never imagined that I'd want to spend the rest of my life with you. Why, I don't know, as I was a really old man at that point and that may well have ended up happening."

Rogue giggled nervously.

"I love you so much, Rogue," he went on. "And I don't want to know a day without you with me. Will you marry me?"

Rogue nodded, tears welling up in her eyes despite herself.

"Yes," she said. "Yes, of course I'll marry you."

Now there was applause in amongst the cheers and 'aww's as Gambit stood up again. Rogue moved her promise ring to her other hand and Gambit opened up the rose, pulled out the diamond engagement ring and slipped it onto her finger. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he kissed her lips gently.

"Hey, you're not supposed to cry," he teased her.

Rogue laughed softly and they kissed again. Longer this time, to the point where Tabitha felt the need to shout: "Get a room! I mean that literally!"

Swarming was inevitable. Everyone had to come up and congratulate them on their now official engagement.

"So, powers under control now, huh?" Bobby asked.

"Well, I'm not out of the woods yet," Gambit replied, "But I can control how much energy I generate now, which means no more practically living in the danger room, no more having to use the converter, no more Rogue needing to absorb me. Well, unless we decide to spice up our sex life a bit..."

"Remy!" Rogue exclaimed, blushing furiously.

Gambit laughed and Bobby shook his head.

"All I have to say is: say cheese!" Bobby exclaimed, snapped a picture of them and ran off gleefully like a little kid who's just poked his older sibling with a stick.

"We have got to stop feeding him sugar," Rogue decided.

"Congratulations," said Storm, joining them along with Logan.

"Thanks," Rogue replied, grinning broadly. "You two were in on this the whole time, huh?"

"You kidding?" Logan said. "The party was Squeaky's idea."

"I do enjoy luring people into a false sense of security," Gambit said devilishly. "You can attest to that, can't you...Dad."

Rogue and Storm laughed at the sour look Logan gave Gambit.

"Are you sure about this, Stripes?" Logan asked, his eyes not moving from Gambit's face. "It's not too late to back out."

"Yes I'm sure," Rogue replied good-naturedly.

"By the way," Gambit said. "I had a date in mind."

"Oh yeah?" Rogue asked.

"How does our regression anniversary sound?" Gambit asked.

Rogue kissed his lips softly.

"I think it sounds perfect," she replied.

* * *

**AN: **

Fostersb suggested "promise lingerie"

ChrissyKP suggested Remy calling Logan 'Daddy'

légèreté des mains = lightness of hand, the French name for "sleight of hand"


	69. I Never Touched Her

**AN:** Guess what my favourite line in this chapter is... hehehe

cappsy wanted a shirt about being witty in the collection

Navigator 101 wanted to see Henri's reaction to the engagement ring

For those interested in Rogue's tattoo, you can see it at . - make sure you replace the 3.s

* * *

**Chapter 68: I Never Touched Her**

A young man knocked on the door of the LeBeau's private dining room and entered.

"Pardonnez-moi," he said, addressing Jean-Luc, "but your petit-fils, Remy, is on the phone for you."

"Thank you," Jean-Luc replied.

The servant vacated the room and Jean-Luc picked up the phone.

"Bonsoir Remy," Jean-Luc said.

"Bonsoir père," Gambit replied merrily. "I've got some awesome news for you."

"Oui?"

"Rogue and I are engaged." Gambit said proudly. "I proposed last night."

"Remy! This is indeed good news," Jean-Luc replied and then looked at his family, lowering the receiver away from his mouth slightly. "Remy and Rogue are engaged."

Henri promptly choked on his drink and Mercy had to pat him on the back while he coughed and spluttered.

"The wedding is going to be in early October," Jean-Luc further relayed. "He wants to talk to you, Henri."

"Remy," Henri exclaimed when he recovered himself and picked up the phone. "I was just getting used to the idea that you even wanted to get married."

Gambit laughed.

"Well, will you be able to get used to the idea of being my best man too?" he asked. "Or should I ask someone else?"

"I think I can managed that one, mon frère," Henri assured him.

"I was going to ask Emil and Etienne to be groomsmen too," Gambit went on. "But ahh...their families don't know the truth about me so..."

"Of course. I'll let them know you thought of them."

"I appreciate it. I mean, if you guys decide you want to change your mind about that...y'know, but I realise the more people know, the more chances of the wrong people finding out, and the last thing we need is for the Assassins Guild—I mean, other than Belle and Mignonette—finding out."

"D'accord," Henri replied and then shook his head and continued incredulously: "Mon dieu. Never thought this day would come. So, I'm guessing that you have your powers under control now?"

"Oui. Is Aimee there? Rogue wants to ask her something."

"Oui. And congratulations," Henri replied and then turned to Aimee. "Rogue wants to ask you something."

Aimee's face lit up like a Christmas tree as she took the phone.

"Hi Rogue?" she said.

"Hi sugar," Rogue replied. "So, did you still want to be one of my bridesmaids?"

"Yesyesyes!" Aimee replied excitedly and Rogue had to hold the phone away from her ear.

"Okay," Rogue said with a giggle. "But there is one condition."

"Whatwhatwhat?"

"No stealing anything."

"Aww, spoil all my fun," Aimee joked.

"That goes for your whole family too, by the way," Rogue added.

Aimee laughed.

* * *

Rogue had already done the big eighteenth birthday party and decided not to do it again. It was really her twenty-first birthday that she was looking forward to. So it was that Rogue celebrated with a select group of friends and they went out for pizza and a movie.

Her presents included a short sleeved shirt from Gambit that said "(insert witty phrase here)", which nicely showed off the elaborate tattoo that Paint decided to give her. The tattoo ran from her middle finger on her left arm from just above the knuckle and flowed to her shoulder. It was an elaborate web of swirls, circles and the odd square and star. Rogue loved it.

Gambit decided to follow, erm 'escort' Rogue back to her room after they got back from the movie and upon the shutting of the door, decided that a birthday massage was necessary.

"Hey Remy," Rogue mused as her eyes fell on a certain collection of photos on her shelves.

"Oui?" he inquired as his hands worked their way across her back.

"Remember that photo shoot we did for my fourteenth?" she asked.

"Oui..."

"Wanna do another one?"

"Are you actually asking me if I want to do another one?" Gambit asked. "Or are you telling me that you want to do one and you want me to join you?"

Rogue giggled. "Both."

"We're going to have wedding photos later in the year," Gambit pointed out.

"Not the same," Rogue replied. "I just... I remember thinking at the time that I would have preferred to do the shoot in an adult body with adult clothes. Not a kid body in hand-me-down clothing."

"They aren't bad photos, chère," Gambit pointed out, and then sighed reluctantly. "But I get the point. Okay, okay."

"If you really don't want to..."

"Photo shoots aren't really my thing, _but_," he added quickly before Rogue could say anything, "it is your birthday."

"Yay. Thanks, sugar," Rogue replied happily.

* * *

On the day Rogue had booked them in, Rogue and Gambit drove their motorcycles down. It was only when they got there that Gambit realised he'd left his sunglasses at home. He shrugged it off. Ever since the community had stepped up to help them in their hour of need, more and more mutants were becoming more comfortable with being open in the local area, and their reception had been more of interest and curiosity rather than fear and hatred.

Gambit did notice a number of people doing double takes as he and Rogue made their way to the photo studio in the mall though. The receptionist at the studio being one of them. She told them to take a seat and while they waited, they went through the sample albums. Rogue giggled when she found Gambit's photo still in there.

"I wish they'd take that out," he muttered.

"Aww, but it's a sexy photo," Rogue teased him.

"Oui," Gambit taunted her in return, "of mon père."

"You suck," she replied, pulling a face at him.

Gambit chuckled and Laverne entered the waiting room. Her eyes seemed to lighten with recognition as she took in Gambit's eyes and Rogue's white streak.

"Ah ha," Laverne said. "I knew the name Anna Howlett was familiar."

"Soon to be Anna LeBeau," Gambit said with a sly smile at Rogue.

"Oh really? Congratulations," Laverne said enthusiastically.

"Thanks," Rogue replied.

"Okay, let's get started, shall we? By the way, I love the tattoo."

* * *

"That's not a wedding gown, Tabby," Jubilee said. "That's a swimsuit."

"What is?" asked Tracy looking over at the bridal magazine Tabitha was holding. "Geez, who'd wear that?"

"I would," Tabitha replied cheerfully.

"You have to settle down with one guy first," Kitty said.

"You know Tabby," Rogue drawled. "I don't remember inviting you to this."

"Oh...was this invitation only?" Tabitha asked.

Giggling followed.

"Hey Rogue," Angelica said. "What about the tattoo?"

"What about it?" Rogue asked.

"Well, I mean, do you want to cover it up or show it off?" Angelica asked.

"Why shouldn't I show it off?" Rogue inquired, looking at Angelica curiously. "I love it."

"Oh it's just... y'know... it'll be in all your wedding photos and what if you decide one day that you don't like it or anything?" Angelica replied, now feeling a little awkward.

"Then I'll just have to live with the consequences," Rogue replied blithely.

Kitty giggled.

"I remember looking at my parents' wedding photos," she told the group. "Dad had an afro. He looked like such a dork."

Further laughter.

"Do you know what kind of style you want?" Betsy asked Rogue. "Personally, with your figure, I'd go for the mermaid style and a sweetheart neckline."

"The what and the what now?" Rogue asked with a blink.

"The mermaid style hugs your figure until it gets to about your mid thigh and then it flares out. Trust me, you have the hourglass figure to get away with it," Betsy replied. "The sweetheart neckline'll hint at your cleavage. Of course you'll probably want sleeves—spaghetti straps at least—for support. Although with that tattoo you may want to get something asymmetrical to set it off; maybe a short sleeve on your right side. You've got nice toned arms so you really shouldn't hide them underneath a long sleeve."

Everyone looked at her.

"I should have thought to ask you to play fashion consultant for my wedding," Kitty said with a sigh.

"We weren't really getting along then," Betsy pointed out.

"Well, that's true, I guess," Kitty conceded.

"How long have you and Pete been married now anyway?" asked Tracy.

"Two years next month," Kitty replied proudly.

"Aww, congratulations."

"Thanks."

"Wait so if Betsy has it all figured out," said Tabitha, "why are we even looking at these things?"

"Details," Betsy replied the same time Jubilee said "Bridesmaids gowns!"

"What?" Jubilee added when everyone looked at her. "I'm gonna be a bridesmaid. I wanna know what I'm gonna be wearing."

"Naked bridesmaids would turn a few heads," Angelica said. "But I think that would take too much attention off the bride."

"Got a colour picked out yet?" Tracy asked Rogue.

"Green," Rogue replied.

"Of course. Should have seen that one coming," Tracy said with a giggle.

"And matching green shirts for the guys," Rogue went on.

"Decided on your maid of honour yet?" Jubilee asked as she batted her eyelids at her.

"No," Rogue said ruefully. "How am I supposed to pick between you and Kitty? I'm thinking I should just let you two fight it out."

Kitty laughed.

"Hmm," Jubilee considered. "Who's Remy got for groomsmen?"

"Well, his brother Henri," Rogue said. "After that, he doesn't know. He was thinking of asking Jimmy."

"Jimmy? Seriously?" Angelica asked.

"Sure, why not?" Rogue asked.

"I just didn't think they were that close, is all," Angelica replied. "I mean, I know they're both in the same ethics class, and Remy teaches him French. But I thought Remy would have thought of him as a kid."

"He does think of him as a kid," Rogue pointed out. "That doesn't mean he can't think of him as a friend too."

"Suppose."

"What about groomsman number three?" Jubilee asked.

"He hasn't decided yet," Rogue replied.

"Hey, Jimmy's green skin isn't going to clash with the green gowns or shirts, is it?" Kitty mused.

"I think we should be all right if we can match the hue," Betsy replied. "I'm sure if we ask her, Paint won't mind making a swatch of Jimmy's skin colour for us and we can check. Or we can bring him with us and do the guys shirts before the bridesmaid dresses. I don't know. I've never had to co-ordinate with green skin before."

Giggling followed.

"Hey Rogue," said Kitty. "Were you planning on having a flower girl at all?"

"Nah," Rogue replied. "If she were older I might have asked Kendall, but she's two. I don't think she has the required attention span."

"Plus she'd look so cute it might take attention from you," Angelica said with a grin.

"Can't have that," Gambit said as he waltzed into the staff room with a slim package above his head. "Hey, Roguey, guess what I've got?"

"Hey, this is invitation only," Tabitha said. "You're the groom, you're not allowed."

"So, who invited you?" Gambit asked.

"We were wondering the same thing," Rogue replied. "You got the photos?"

"Oui," Gambit said as he leaned over. "And I have to say, chère, you look sexy as all hell."

"Hell is sexy?" Rogue asked. "I don't consider hell to be particularly sexy at all."

"You know what I mean," he dismissed and opened up the envelope. "I think I'm going to keep a copy of this one in my wallet."

Rogue laughed as Gambit indicated the photo of Rogue from her waist up. Her left hand was on her right shoulder, her right hand just under her left armpit and her white locks trailing down in front. She was bearing so much skin, that, were it not for the precious few glimpses of black in the gaps between her arms, you'd wonder if she was wearing anything at all. Her tattoo featured prominently.

"Wow, raunchy much," Jubilee said. "You brave, brave girl."

"Ha, you should see the one I got of Remy," Rogue replied gleefully. "All the rest have both of us in them, but we also picked raunchy shots of each other for fun."

"You're not seeing the one of me," Gambit said quickly. "I left it in the bedroom before I came here."

"That's okay," Jubilee said sweetly. "I have a copy of the naked photo you did when you were, umm, older."

"Naked photo?" Tabitha repeated.

"I wasn't naked," Gambit insisted. "And you weren't supposed to tell anyone about that."

"Umm, oops?" Jubilee replied with a giggle.

"I wanna see!" Tabitha insisted.

"It's a good pic," Jubilee said. "You really are very hot, Remy. I don't know why you're ashamed to be photographed."

"It's what people do with the photographs that make me nervous," Gambit replied. "I once dated a fille who had her own little shrine to me. I'll have you know it's very creepy when you go to your girlfriend's place and discover her bedroom walls are wallpapered with photos of yourself, let alone trying to have sex in said same room. Not to mention the number of, ahem, souvenirs she had lying around the place. Suffice to say we weren't dating for long."

"Wow, that is creepy," Angelica said.

"If she was that obsessed," Betsy said, "How did you get rid of her?

"I left the state," Gambit replied. "Problem was the state was Louisiana and she knew where to find me."

"So?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Yes..."

"Bella Donna killed her," Gambit replied seriously. "She walked in on us... having a little fun, and went ballistic. Belle took it upon herself to, ahh, put her out of her misery. And then proceeded to give me a hard time about having to clean up my messes."

"Wow."

"Wish you hadn't asked?" Gambit teased her.

"No, I just wasn't expecting bloodshed," Betsy replied.

"And yet you agreed to let Laverne use one of your pictures for a sample album," Rogue pointed out with a smirk.

"I'm still not sure how she talked me into that," Gambit replied. "She must have been really good in bed."

"Note to self, any time I want to con Remy into doing something he doesn't want me to do, use sex as bait," Rogue said jokingly.

"You know, by the time we get married, it'll be five years since I last got any," Gambit mused. "You may not survive our honeymoon, chère."

"Roaw," Tabitha teased.

Rogue just laughed.

"Hey Remy," said Jubilee. "Have you picked a third groomsman yet?"

"I told them you were thinking about asking Jimmy," Rogue put in.

"I was thinking about asking Bobby, actually," Gambit replied musingly. "I was going to ask Logan, but Rogue's claimed him to walk her down the aisle, and then she went and claimed Stormy too even though she's technically my guardian."

Rogue giggled.

"I haven't decided if asking Roguey's ex-boyfriend to be in the bridal party would be too weird though," Gambit went on.

"Thus Rogue claims another," Angelica joked.

"I'd suggest Pete," Kitty said, "but he'd probably prefer to stay with Meredith."

"Of course," Gambit replied with a slight nod.

"I don't have a problem with you asking Bobby," Rogue told him. "We've both moved on, content with being friends and it would also solve the maid of honour problem."

"But...but I wanna be the maid of honour," Jubilee said pitifully. "If I break up with Bobby you won't be able to pair us up!"

"Right," Tabitha said scornfully. "Like that'll last. You'll be pulling each other into the nearest closest before the reception's over."

"Will not," Jubilee objected, but she was blushing.

"You know what?" said Kitty. "I'm not really all that worried about being maid of honour. Well, _matron_ of honour. Besides, we all know Jubilee is dying to organise the bachelorette party."

Jubilee chuckled wickedly.

"So you can be the maid of honour," Kitty went on, "and I can be paired up with Bobby."

"Oh and at the reception," Rogue said, her eyes lighting up, "we can switch around the seating arrangements. Like, Jubes can sit next to me, then Bobby, then Kitty, and Henri can sit next to Remy, then Aimee, then Jimmy."

"Are you sure you want to sit Aimee next to Jimmy?" asked Gambit.

"Are you sure you _don't _want Aimee next to her father?" Rogue asked in reply. "Besides, she knows Jimmy and Henri. She doesn't really know Jubes and Kitty, and I'm not entirely sure if I want to gamble with that particular combination."

"Yeah?" asked Jubilee. "What's she like?"

Rogue pointed her thumb at Gambit. "Just like him, only blonde, female and a foot shorter."

"That's scary," Tracy said with a giggle.

"I can just see Aimee and Jubes getting along a little too well," Rogue went on with a grin at Jubilee. "And then Kitty'll get stuck trying to tone things down. She's already got one child to look after."

"Thank you," Kitty replied.

"Are you sure Bobby'll be any better though?" asked Angelica. "He gets up to his own fair share of mischief."

"Bobby I can handle," Rogue replied.

"Hey," Tracy said, looking at one of the other photos from the shoot. "You did another casino photo."

"Yeah," Rogue said. "I love that one."

"I'm telling you, Roguey," Gambit said. "We're hitting Vegas for our third anniversary. I'm looking forward to playing for some real stakes again."

"Okay sugar," Rogue replied good-naturedly.

"Are you loaded?" Tabitha asked Gambit.

"Excusez-moi?" Gambit said.

"Y'know, are you rich?"

"That's rude, Tabby," Kitty said, frowning at her.

"What?" Tabitha asked, looking at the group. "Like you don't all want to know. I mean, c'mon, you were buying Rogue jewellery—some of it expensive—before you were even dating. You pay for you and Rogue to go to New Orleans every year and then you shouted Jimmy and Artie as well last year. On a train, I might add, which has got to be more expensive than a plane. You're planning a three week honeymoon in New Zealand, okay and I've seen the quality of clothes you wear, buddy."

"I don't believe Remy's financial position is any of your business," Rogue said tersely.

"I'm just looking for confirmation of what I already know," Tabitha replied.

"Know?" Gambit asked, bemused.

"Okay fine, strongly suspect. I don't see what's so rude about it," Tabitha went on. "We all know the Xaviers were loaded. The Hiltons are loaded. Elton John pretends to be loaded."

"It's called prying into people's personal business, Tabby," Rogue replied darkly. "That's what makes it rude."

The room fell silent, but not so much because of the argument or Rogue's tone of voice, but more because of the magenta glow that was lighting up the lounge.

"Remy!" Storm exclaimed from across the room, even as she realised Rogue's eyes were red on black.

"It's not me!" Gambit objected, holding up his hands.

"It's Rogue," Kitty said.

Tabitha swallowed hard under Rogue's hardened gaze. The light spread further and further, filling the room. Gambit put his hands on the lounge and attempted to pull in the charge, but he could only pull in a very small portion. The magenta glow covered the way his face paled. Rogue had been absorbing him for months before he'd finally gotten things under control. Just how much energy of his did she have?

"Rogue," Gambit said. "Rogue, you have to pull in the charge. C'mon chère, I know you can control my power better than this."

Rogue closed her eyes and faster than it spread, she retracted the charge. Later they would find out that the entire mansion had been lit up. The sensation caused Rogue to gasp loudly and her eyes—now green on white once more—shot open.

"Roguey?" Gambit said.

"I have absolutely no idea whatsoever how the hell I did that," Rogue said.

"I thought you had control over your power," Storm said as she approached.

"I do," Rogue insisted.

"I never touched her," Gambit said at the same time, paused and then added: "That sounds completely wrong."

Nervous laughter followed.

"Med lab?" Rogue asked.

"Med lab," Storm confirmed.


	70. I'm the Epitome of Humble

**Chapter 69: I'm the Epitome of Humble**

"Small blind is... 5," Gambit decided as he shuffled the cards. "Big blind's 10."

"Fun," Jubilee said. "So, Rogue, how'd it go?"

"Weird," Rogue replied. "I can officially use Remy's powers on cue."

"Cool," Bobby said.

"Right now though, Emma and Hank aren't sure if this is the next level of my powers or if it's just Remy 'cause I have so much of his energy stored up," Rogue went on. "We experimented to see if I could use any of the other powers I've absorbed, but Remy's the only one I could access."

"If it is the next level," Betsy mused, "you could just be accessing Remy's prematurely because of all that energy."

"That's what Emma thought might be the case too," Rogue confirmed.

"What powers have you absorbed?" Warren asked as Gambit dealt the cards. "I know there was me."

"You, Remy, Sally, Laura, Jamie and Magneto," Rogue replied. "Ha, if I could use them all at once, that would mean I could fly, make things go boom, create force fields, multiply myself, heal, grow claws and manipulate electro-magnetic fields. I believe this is what they call 'overpowered'."

"Fold," said Jubilee.

"Call. I can see it all now," Bobby joked, gesturing with his arm. "A whole army of winged Rogues with claws and red and black eyes—"

"Call," Rogue said.

"—blowing up or bending out of shape everything in her path –" Bobby went on.

"Call," said Gambit.

"—laughing death in the face," Bobby finished.

"You and your fanciful imagination," Rogue said, bemused.

"Call," Betsy said.

"Hey it could happen."

"Call," said Warren. "So, what happened in the staff room today, is that likely to happen again?"

Rogue made sucking noises with her tongue as Gambit dealt the three first community cards and contemplated her reply.

"To be honest," she said, "I don't know. I was pissed off. Remy's psyche was pissed off—"

"Oh was it now?" Betsy said musingly with a grin at Gambit. "Check."

Gambit just looked back at her impassively.

"Check," Warren said, followed by Bobby who said the same thing.

"So, from an emotional stand point, it's entirely possible," Rogue said. "Check."

"Raise 10," Gambit said.

"Call," said Betsy.

"Call," said Warren.

"However, I'm aware I can do it now, and I was also able to suck it all back in again," Rogue went on.

"Fold," said Bobby. "And knowing is half the battle."

"Fold," said Rogue. "You're a dork, Bobby."

"But it's true," Bobby insisted as Gambit dealt the fourth community card.

"That you're a dork?" Jubilee asked. "I'll agree with that."

"Check," said Betsy. "You two amaze me. I've never known a couple to fight as much as you two do."

"Check," said Warren.

"Whatever," Jubilee dismissed. "So...is this going to delay the wedding or anything?"

"Non," Gambit said firmly. "Raise 10."

"Definitely not," Rogue agreed.

"Call," said Betsy, pushing her chips in.

"Call," said Warren.

There was a pause while the three compared hands. Gambit won and the cards were passed to Betsy to shuffle.

"Neither myself nor Hank nor Emma think I'm in danger of going around blowing people up," Rogue went on. "As long as I keep Remy's psyche shut up with the others, that is."

"Shut up?" Bobby repeated.

"Well, it's like the psyches have their own little room in my head," Rogue explained. "While they're in there they don't really bother me. But, I kinda enjoy having Remy hang out with me."

"I enjoy that too," Gambit mused with a wink.

"So when Tabby succeeded in ticking me off," Rogue said, shrugged and spread her hands. "I can't seem to let out any of the other psyches in the same way, but obviously I have a lot more of Remy in me."

"Gonna have even more in a few months from now," Gambit put in merrily.

"You can't help yourself, can you, Swamp Rat?" Rogue said dryly, giving him a cynical look.

"Not one bit, River Rat," Gambit replied.

"Anyway, so right now only time can tell," Rogue finished up as Betsy began to deal the cards.

"You're not going to need to use up all that energy like Remy did?" Bobby asked.

"Nope, my storage facilities are still in working order," Rogue replied. "It's psyche management I have to deal with."

"Well, good," said Jubilee. "I was looking forward to being maid of honour."

"Because it's all about you," Bobby said and pushed in a chip. "Call."

"Of course, didn't you know that by now?" Jubilee said. "It's always about me."

"Call," Rogue said. "No way. It's my wedding day, so it's about me. Ha!"

"Fold," said Gambit then added cynically: "Oui, because the groom's not important at all."

"You're learning," Betsy teased him. "Raise 20."

"Fold," said Warren. "I never got that. I mean, without the groom and the bride there is no wedding."

"Girls put more stake in the wedding day," Jubilee said, nodding. "Fold."

"Call," said Bobby. "The wedding day's about the bride and the honeymoon is about the groom?"

"Call," said Rogue. "Don't give him ideas."

"Too late," Gambit said cheerfully as Betsy dealt the flop. "I have all sorts of ideas, and none of them even involve the handcuffs I have upstairs."

"Remy!" Rogue exclaimed, blushing furiously.

"I don't even want to know," Jubilee said.

"I do," Bobby said. "Raise 10."

"Raise 20," said Rogue. "What's wrong Bobby? Running out of ideas of your own?"

"Call," Betsy spluttered out in amongst her laughter.

"Call," Bobby said, giving Rogue and Betsy a dirty glare.

"Yeah, it's up to me to be the creative one," Jubilee said with a nod as Betsy dealt the turn. "And I definitely don't want any nasty visuals of what you two get up to... or are going to get up to."

"Ain't nothing nasty about it," Gambit said.

"Hey I'm plenty creative," Bobby objected. "Check."

"Raise 100. He does have a certain amount of creativity," Rogue said musingly. "He tried icing over his lips when we were dating so we could kiss. It didn't work very well, and it was really cold, but I think that counts as creative."

"Fold," said Betsy.

"Oh he started that with you?" Jubilee said.

"Call," said Bobby, pushing his chips in and avoiding everyone's eyes.

"Don't tell me he still does?" Rogue asked.

"Actually there's a certain kink factor to using ice in the bedroom," Gambit mused as Betsy dealt the river.

"All I'm going to say is there are certain places ice just shouldn't go," Jubilee said determinedly. "Ever."

"Raise 500," Bobby said, pushing in the corresponding amount of chips.

Rogue glanced at him, shrugged and then said: "Raise 1000."

"Raise 1500," Bobby retorted.

"Call," Rogue replied.

"See 'em and weep, Rogue," Bobby said smugly. "Full house, tens to threes."

"Well, that's a very nice hand there, Bobby," Rogue said. "Pity it doesn't beat my four of a kind."

She smirked as she revealed her cards, lining up the three of clubs in her hand with the three threes on the table. Bobby banged his head on the table while Rogue collected the chips.

"Soooo clooose," Bobby said.

"Pity this isn't real money, huh?" Rogue said.

"That's what I keep saying," Gambit replied. "Maybe we should be going to Australia instead of New Zealand for the honeymoon."

"Why's that?" Rogue asked as Warren gathered the cards.

"'Cause the gambling age in New Zealand is 20, but in Australia it's 18," Gambit replied.

"You know what? I'm glad," Rogue said, shaking her head. "Otherwise I think I may end up loosing you to the casino."

"I don't know, Rogue," Betsy said. "It would be an interesting way to find out which Remy values more: sex or gambling."

"If I was really deadset on gambling my honeymoon away," Gambit commented dryly. "We'd be hitting Monte Carlo. I was just thinking if had the opportunity been available, it might have been nice to hit a casino one night. It's not like I play and Rogue doesn't."

"I'm just impressed you managed to con Storm and Logan into letting you disappear for three weeks during the school year," Warren said as he dealt the cards.

"And once more I get stuck substituting your French class," Betsy said dryly.

"Fold," said Rogue.

"At least it's only three weeks this year and not four," Gambit teased her. "Call."

"Call," said Betsy.

"You going to do the sex ed classes on top of each other again?" Bobby asked.

"Call," said Warren.

"Oui," Gambit replied. "Laura's in the seventh grade this year though, and I have to admit I'm a little...concerned about how that's going to go."

"Call," said Jubilee. "Laura's weird. I mean, I realise she was raised as a weapon and everything and so it's perfectly understandable why she is how she is, but still... weird."

"Call," said Bobby.

"You're telling me," Gambit said, shaking his head while Warren dealt the flop. "I asked her how much French she knew and she rattled off instructions on information gathering. It could be me, but I just don't think that sixth-graders need to know the appropriate times to bribe, torture, abduct or execute people."

"She didn't?" Jubilee asked, then remembered it was her turn and added a harried: "Oh, um, check."

"She did," Gambit confirmed. "I'm just relieved no one else understood what she said."

"Check," said Bobby.

"Check," said Gambit. "I'm not sure if I want to know what she's been taught about sex and relationships."

"Check," said Betsy. "What's wrong Remy? Not up to the challenge?"

"I said I didn't know if I wanted to know," Gambit said reproachfully. "Not that I didn't think I could handle it."

"Check," said Warren and dealt the turn. "I don't envy you one bit, Remy."

"Why not?" Gambit asked. "I'm awesome."

Jubilee giggled. "Check."

"And modest too," Rogue mused.

"Check," said Bobby.

"Raise 50," Gambit said. "I'm the epitome of humble."

"Call," said Betsy. "And the pigs are fed and ready to fly."

"Fold," said Warren with a grin.

"Really? You can get mutant pigs now?" Gambit asked. "Do they have wings or do they fly under their own power?"

"Call," said Jubilee.

"Fold," said Bobby. "They're taking a plane."

Warren laughed as he dealt the river.

"Raise 10," said Jubilee. "Speaking of flying, I'm really looking forward to going to Disney World."

"What does flying have to do with Disney World?" asked Rogue.

"Raise 20," said Gambit.

"Dumbo the Flying Elephant," Jubilee replied with a nod.

"Well, I guess I can't argue with that," Rogue said.

"Raise 50," said Betsy.

"Call," said Jubilee. "It's gonna be fun."

"Or alternatively, a nightmare," Bobby said mischievously. "We're taking three coaches worth of people with us, most of them under eighteen."

"Raise 100," said Gambit. "Aww, but be worth it no? Everyone who's going is pretty much stuck here all year round. You need to get out of the house once in awhile."

"Remy's a major advocate of 'getting out of the house'," Rogue said in bemusement.

"What can I say? I like to travel," he said.

"Raise 200," Betsy said. "Really? I don't."

Jubilee looked at her chips, then back at the community cards. She sighed. "Fold."

"Raise 400," Gambit said. "Speaking of travelling, are you coming or are you modelling again this summer?"

"Raise 800," Betsy replied. "Modelling. I like to keep my hand in."

"Don't you have a hard time getting work when you're here most of the year?" asked Jubilee.

"Raise 1500," Gambit said.

Betsy looked at Gambit, then at her chips.

"All in," she said dryly. "I have a really good agent."

"Call," Gambit replied. "So eager to leave the game early, chère?"

"Hardly," Betsy said smugly as she turned over her hole cards. "Straight to Ace."

"Flush to King," Gambit said, revealing his two spades to go with the three in the middle.

"Crap."

Gambit blew her a kiss.

"Here," Warren said, shifting over a pile of chips to her. "It's just for fun anyway."

"Thanks love," Betsy replied as Jubilee gathered up the cards.

"Aww so sweet," Bobby said, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye.

"It is sweet," Jubilee insisted.

"I just feel sorry for Kitty and Pete," Rogue said. "I mean, I know they volunteered to stay here on account of Meredith and we needed someone to man the fort while everyone's gone, but still, they're missing out on all the fun."

"Yeah but can you imagine carting around a, what? An eight-month-old baby around crowded theme parks?" Betsy said. "I don't blame them for wanting to give it a miss. I can't even begin to imagine the time Logan and Storm are going to have with Kendall."

"I think if it weren't for all the students, they'd probably give it a miss too," Rogue observed as Jubilee dealt the cards.

"Call," said Gambit.

"Probably," said Betsy. "Fold."

"Call," said Warren.

"Call," said Jubilee. "I think we need more kids around here."

"Fold," said Bobby.

"Call," said Rogue. "Yeah, Kendall—and Meredith—could do with some more play mates."

"So, Warren," Jubilee said as she dealt the flop, which turned out to be an ace, a king and a queen. "When are you planning on popping the question?"

"Umm, excuse me?" Warren asked, almost choking on his own saliva.

"Check," said Rogue.

"Well, you and Betsy have only been together forever," Jubilee pointed out.

"Raise 50," said Gambit.

"I think if you want to discuss the matter of more children," Betsy said tersely, "perhaps you and Bobby should do something about it. You certainly screw around enough."

"Agreed," said Warren. "Call."

"Hey, we're careful," Jubilee replied. "Raise 100."

"Call," said Rogue.

"Personally," Bobby said. "I think you should be talking to Rogue and Remy. They're the ones getting married."

"Raise 500," said Gambit impassively.

"Fold," said Warren.

"Fold," said Jubilee.

"Fold," said Rogue and then added mischievously as Gambit collected his chips: "Yeah, we have to do something to disprove those nasty rumours someone's been spreading about Remy being sterile."

There was some chuckling as Gambit turned his head to look at Rogue's grinning face.

"Rogue," he said.

"Yes, Remy?" Rogue replied, batting her eyelids at him.

"We're not using condoms on the honeymoon."

* * *

What was left of the school year came quickly to a close. While those at the mansion were in the process of parting ways for the summer, Aimee, Mignonette and their gaggle of friends were amusing themselves at the restaurant where Sebastien worked.

"Order whatever you want," Aimee told the group magnanimously. "It's on me."

"It's on the poor slob you robbed, you mean," Mignonette said dryly, even as she perused the menu.

"Well, duh," Aimee replied cheerfully. "You don't expect me to use my own money, do you?"

"There are certain advantages to being friends with a thief," Mignonette said musingly.

"I'd like to say the same about assassins," Aimee teased, "but nothing is coming to mind."

"I'll remember you said that the day someone puts a bounty on your head," Mignonette said mildly.

"They have to be able to identify me first," Aimee replied.

They ordered, chatted, ate, chatted some more. The hour got later, their friends began to leave and eventually the kitchen closed. Sebastien came out to join them.

"Hello ladies," he said. "And Aimee."

"Jerk," Aimee said.

"Pipsqueak," Sebastien retorted.

"This gets old very quickly," Mignonette commented.

"Only to observers," Aimee replied. "By the way, Crab-boy—"

"I wish you wouldn't call me that," Sebastien said. "Just because Remy does, doesn't mean you have to."

"—I've been meaning to ask," Aimee went on like he hadn't said anything. "What happened to Jackie? Haven't seen her around for awhile."

"Broke up," Sebastien replied with a shrug. "No reason."

"I'm just going to stop asking about you and your girlfriends," Aimee decided.

"You do that."

"They all end the same way. At least when Mignonette and Raul broke up it was interesting."

"Interesting, she calls it," Mignonette said dryly.

"You stabbed him," Aimee pointed out.

"He hated my music," Migonette replied, "and my friends."

"Uh huh," Aimee replied dryly.

"He called Maman a psycho—"

"Because the Matriarch of the Assassins Guild can't possibly be insane. Eccentric maybe, but never insane."

"He snubbed me for the superbowl, and then had the audacity to demand I bring him his beer like I'm some kind of _servant_—"

"The nerve!" Aimee exclaimed as if she hadn't heard all of this before.

"He slept with that stripper and his left big toe was slightly larger than his right," Mignonette finished. "I think that's sufficient reason to justify a stabbing. It's not like it was fatal or anything. Wasn't even a crippling blow either."

"You're just so generous."

"Merci for noticing."

"See, this is what I'm saying Seb," Aimee said cheerfully. "You never stab any of your ex-girlfriends."

"Gee," Sebastien said cynically. "I'm so sorry if I'm letting you down. Because your opinion of my sex life means so much to me."

"Apology accepted," Aimee replied as she stood. "I should go pay the bill, huh?"

"My boss would appreciate it," Sebastien said.

Sebastien and Mignonette watched as Aimee swaggered over to the counter. Mignonette leaned over her arm where it was resting on the table towards Sebastien.

"Wanna freak Aimee out?" she asked.

"I always want to freak Aimee out," Sebastien replied.

"Good. Play along," Mignonette instructed.

"Play along with wha-mmmft—"

Sebastien was cut off by Mignonette's lips meeting his. He was momentarily surprised, but quickly rose to the moment and kissed Mignonette back with equal fervour. He lifted his hand to cup her face as she pressed her hands against his chest.

"Ewww!" Aimee exclaimed. "That's my _brother_!"

Sebastien started to pull away, but Mignonette anchored him in place by moving one hand around his neck.

"Eww, eww, eww," Aimee insisted, then turned back to the hostess. "Hurry up quick! I need to get out of here before I hurl."

Mignonette didn't let Sebastien go until she heard Aimee evacuate and when she did, Mignonette chuckled wickedly.

"I sense I'm going to have a very interesting conversation with mon père when I get home," Sebastien mused.

"I need to get out of here before I hurl," Mignonette mimicked with a smirk.

"That was just priceless," Sebastien said with a chuckle.

"Oui," Mignonette agreed. "You're not a bad kisser either, LeBeau."

"Merci. You're pretty good yourself," Sebastien replied.

"We should do this again at the Christmas party this year and freak out Maman," Mignonette said wickedly.

"Sure," Sebastien agreed "Just as long as she doesn't decided to stab me."

* * *

**AN:**

Okay, the event with Laura in French class actually happened in one of the comics: "X-23: Target X #2" only she was at a normal school with a teacher who was not aware of her situation at the time, hehehe.

Laceylou76 wanted Rogue and Jubilee to compare stories about Bobby

demon-lulu wanted another poker scene, and I think a couple of others did as well

The Mignonette/Sebastien moment shouldn't be interpreted as meaning they're dating now. I just threw that in there for a bit of fun for everyone who liked the idea of a Mignonette/Sebastien coupling. This will probably be Mignonette's final appearance in the story.


	71. It All Went So Fast

**Chapter 70: It All Went So Fast**

Rogue pulled a small box out of her pigeon hole along with the rest of her mail. The box wasn't marked with a return address but it was post marked Mississippi. The last time she'd gotten something like this was a year ago when Pyro sent her that book... oh!

Rogue made her way to her room. After what happened with Magneto she honestly hadn't expected to hear from Pyro again, although she had fully intended to continue buying his books. What little she had learned from Magneto about his whereabouts Rogue had dismissed. The Brotherhood would have assumed she knew everything and would have relocated almost immediately.

She shut the door behind her and dumped the rest of her mail on the table before ripping open the box. Inside was a signed copy of John's latest, with a letter tucked in under the cover. She put the book on her bedside table and sat down on the edge of the bed to read the letter.

_Rogue,_

_I guess you're probably surprised to be hearing from me. I'm kind of surprised I'm writing to you. I wasn't going to contact you again after what happened. Frankly it feels like you stabbed us in the back. But I'm guessing as there's been no further outbreak of Legacy that either you saved the kid or someone followed Magneto's advice after all and killed him._

_Anyway, there I was, all prepared to see you as an enemy from now on and then I started working on my next book. It'll come out next year, by the way. It's about a rusalka. In case you don't know what the rusalki are, there's some variation, but usually they're an undead being, usually a woman, who dies violently before their time. They're also in the habit of drowning people foolish enough to approach them._

_In my story, at risk of spoiling things for you, my rusalka was drowned by her lover and now spends all her time drowning anyone foolish enough to come near her. The locals tell everyone that the lake she lives in is haunted (and rightly so), so mostly her prey these days are tourists and smart-assed kids who think their parents are being superstitious old foagies. One day, hero #1 comes along and meets her. She tries to lure him in as she usually does, being all naked and sexy and alluring and stuff. Naturally, he resists, because he's a hero. Of course, he might also resist if he was gay, but that's not the case here. He also manages to reveal to the rusalka what she is._

_I think I'm telling you more of this story than I intended to. I mean, you've probably guessed already that by me saying that there's a hero #1, then there's also a hero #2 at the very least. But you needed back story! Back story I tell you!_

_Right, so the rusalka now knows what she is and she's horrified. In life she was this sweet sheila, "wouldn't hurt a fly" kind of thing. She catches herself using her feminine whiles to lure men in and trick kids into her lake with promises of treats and stuff. It freaks her out because she realises that as soon as her victim is in her lake she has to kill them. Literally, she has no choice in the matter. It's what she is. So she tries to tell people to stay away. And it's hard for her because she has to fight the compulsion to lure in victims. Plus as I said she's all naked and sexy and stuff. I mean hello! If you saw a sexy naked chick in a lake wouldn't you—oh wait, you probably wouldn't. Actually I might not either because that would mess with my firey goodness but...Bobby would! Absolutely, if Bobby saw a sexy naked chick in a lake, he would not be listening to her say "Stay away from me or I'll kill you!"_

_Anyway so the point is I'm working on this story and it occurs to me that my rusalka reminds me of you. And not just because you're naked and sexy. Okay well I admit I don't know if you're naked right now but you could be in which case that would completely apply. Either way, you're pretty sexy._

_Just don't tell Wanda I said that._

_Don't tell Gambit either. I saw what he did at Stryfe's._

_What was I saying? Oh yeah. She reminds me of you prior to getting your powers under control. You could have gone around scantily clad and lured people in to approach you so you could drain them dry, but you didn't. You knew you were dangerous and you took precautions and told people to stay away. Of course, some people—like Bobby (who's turning out to be a better example than I thought)—didn't take the hint and paid the consequences, but my point stands. You could have given up and decided to become a world-class assassin or something, but you didn't. You care about all life, and like my rusalka, you kind of have to because it's the only thing standing between you and becoming a monster._

_So, even though I still hate that you absorbed Buckethead even after he told you he wouldn't help you and that the kid should die to ensure Legacy didn't happen again, I understand why you couldn't let it go._

_Not that I'm saying you're only pretending to care about the kid so that you can tell yourself you're not a monster or anything. I really do think you care about people because you genuinely care. I'm just saying._

_Shut up! I'm only being defensive 'cause I've been dating Wanda forever! Do you have any idea how good she is at twisting things to mean the opposite of what I mean to say? She's the bloody queen of it. And yes, I am aware that I wrote down telling you to shut up in a letter._

_I'm going to burn something now._

_Okay, first I'm going to post this and then I'm going to burn something. Preferably something belonging to Pietro because he needs to be brought down a few pegs occasionally._

_Mwahahahahahaha!_

_Pyro_

* * *

Logan gritted his teeth as he drove the lead coach down the highway. He should have known that having Gambit along with his load of students was a bad idea.

"_862 bottles of beer on the wall  
862 bottles of beer!  
Take one down  
Pass it around  
861 bottles of beer on the wall,_" Gambit sang along with the students.

Sure it might have seen like a good idea in theory to cut down on the noise and the fighting that such a long trip would instigate, but Logan figured he could have silenced the lot of them with a few choice words about danger rooms and extra chore duty. Silence would have been a lot more pleasant to listen to than that annoying, repetitive song. They couldn't even sing in tune.

* * *

"All right," Storm announced. "We're approaching our accommodation. Those who have them please turn on your image inducers until you get into your rooms. Everyone is to stay on the bus while we check in."

Storm put the microphone down and then rolled her eyes as she realised Gambit had turned his on...with his "I'm Naked! Under my Image Inducer" shirt.

"Remy," she said tolerantly.

Gambit chuckled and turned it off, putting his sunglasses on instead. Storm shook her head and stepped off the coach with Logan right behind. Kendall was fast asleep in Rogue's lap.

"You know," Rogue said. "You may have to use that at some point."

"I blatantly refuse to use this thing for anything but kicks," Gambit replied. "I had a permanent image inducer for twenty years. Besides, when we have ride photos I want my real eyes in the shot."

"We could photoshop them in later," Rogue teased him.

"I don't think so."

"Well, just remember there is a reason why Storm and Logan are enforcing image inducers this trip," Rogue said seriously. "That being Orlando is crowded and filled to the brim with tourists and we no idea what we should expect in the way of mutant acceptance. I don't want to see anyone get hurt."

"I'm not called 'Gambit' for nothing either, chère," he replied.

* * *

X-23 looked up at the roller coaster and watched in puzzlement as the train full of people went screaming down the track.

"I don't understand," she said finally.

"They're getting off on the adrenaline rush that occurs when they trick their bodies into thinking they're in danger," Logan explained patiently.

"Why?"

"They think it's fun."

"Oh."

* * *

Gambit and Domino stepped up to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin .

"Ready for this, Gambit?" asked Domino.

"Absolument, Domino," Gambit replied.

"All right," Domino said. "Loser buys the winner ice cream."

"You're on."

Rogue snickered as she and Tabitha followed them on.

"This oughta be rich," Tabitha said.

They had a marvellous time going through the ride and shooting the targets. It was, however, Domino who came out victorious.

"Best out of three?" Gambit asked.

"I don't think so," Domino replied.

"Hmph."

"Sorry Remy," Rogue said. "You might be used to playing cards and line of sight, but Domino's actually used to firing a weapon."

"True," Gambit conceded. "Ahh well, at least I have the satisfaction of knowing I can beat you at your own shooting gallery sim."

"Oh we'll fix that," Domino promised.

* * *

"Eee! Bobby!" Jubilee exclaimed, grabbing his arm. "It's Cinderella!"

"Uhh okay..." Bobby said as she pulled him along.

"C'mon I wanna get my picture taken," Jubilee insisted excitedly.

"Okay, but just so long as I get mine taken with Princess Jasmine," Bobby replied. "She's hot."

"Dweeb."

* * *

Storm sat inside the gondola on the Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride next to Kendall. Kendall was looking around with fascination at everything.

"Look dear," said Storm. "There's Daddy. Wave to Daddy."

Kendall beamed when she saw Logan. She waved and he waved back just as the gondola went past.

* * *

"So," said Gambit as he looked around. "This is the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse."

"Yep," Rogue replied. "You know, I don't think that this open plan is the best design. I mean, can you imagine the problems with wind? You'd freeze at night. Well, unless it was a tropical climate, I suppose."

Gambit snickered and Rogue grinned at him as they continued the walk through.

"I think I'd go nuts if I ever got stranded on an island," Gambit mused.

"You mean you're not already?" Rogue teased him.

* * *

Logan, Storm, Rogue, Gambit and X-23 emerged from the "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" 3D attraction. Storm was pushing Kendall in her stroller and Gambit was trying desperately not to laugh.

"Laura," Logan said with more patience than he was feeling, "I believe we told you that nothing here would actually hurt you."

"Yes you did," X-23 confirmed.

"And we also told you that under no circumstances were you to unsheathe your claws," Logan went on.

"Yes you did," X-23 replied.

Gambit snorted.

"It wasn't that funny, Swamp Rat," Rogue said.

"But you admit it was funny," Gambit replied merrily.

"Well," said Storm, "at least it was dark in there."

* * *

"Umm, Gambit," said Jimmy.

"Oui?" Gambit replied.

"Why are you wearing an ear hat?"

"Hmm? Oh," Gambit replied, remembering that the foreign object on his head was his pirate-themed mouse ear hat. "Because it was the only way I could con Logan into wearing one too. It's his own fault. He was the one who said 'I will if you will'. He must have had a moment of insanity if he didn't think I would call him on that."

Jimmy, Artie, Risque and the others at their table looked over at where Logan was sitting with Storm, Kendall, X-23 and Rogue, all wearing ear hats. They laughed.

"I got this white one for Emma too," Gambit went on cheerfully. "All I have to do is hunt her down and surprise her with it."

"I'm sure she'll love that," Jimmy replied.

"Best of all... photographic evidence," Gambit said gleefully. "By the time the school year starts again, everyone will see Logan—and Emma—with mouse ears."

* * *

"I love parades," said Jubilee. "So much fun."

"And the best part about it is that you're not providing the fireworks?" Bobby asked, and then was immediately distracted by one of the floats. "Oooh Princess Jasmine."

Jubilee whacked him upside the head.

"Look Laura," said Rogue, pointing. "There's Pinocchio."

X-23 appraised the figure critically.

"No," she correctly. "That is someone dressed up as an over-sized version of Pinocchio. His appendages aren't even made of wood."

"Oh, well, I stand corrected."

Gambit gave Rogue a nudge as the seven dwarves went past.

"What do you suppose Snow White did with all those dwarves?" he asked mischievously.

"She cleaned up after them," Rogue replied drying.

"Oui... 'cleaned up'," Gambit said suggestively into her ear.

"Please don't ruin Disney cartoon movies for me with your dirty ideas," Rogue said plaintively.

Gambit chuckled.

* * *

"Hey, umm, Sammy," said Paint as she approached with her hands behind her back.

"Yeah?" Squidboy asked, looking strange—to Paint—with his image inducer on.

"I thought you might like this," she said.

She pulled her hands out from behind her back and showed him her latest picture: She had gotten a picture of herself with Ariel at "Ariel's Grotto", copied that and replaced herself with Squidboy in his actual form. He laughed.

"Hey, this is pretty cool," he said. "Thanks."

"I thought you might like it," she replied, a little shyly.

* * *

"Number two thanks," said Rogue at the ride photo counter.

"Sure thing," said the attendant as she pulled up the photo on the screen. "Oh! Uhh, this is the one?"

"Uh huh," Rogue replied, pretending not to notice her reaction to Gambit's eyes in the photo.

The attendant rattled off the price and Rogue handed over the money while Gambit stayed inconspicuous in the back of the gift shop. Rogue got the photo and frame and then made her way outside where she met up with him.

"It's funny," she said. "I think they must go through that many photos she never even noticed your eyes until I asked for that photo."

"Probably," he agreed.

* * *

It was with much relief that Logan drove the coach through the school gates, down the driveway and finally parked.

"All right," he said as he opened the doors. "Everyone out, and don't forget to grab your bags on the way."

There wasn't quite a rush to get out the door as many had to rouse themselves after the long trip. Still, soon enough all three coaches were emptied of people and things. Kitty and Pete were there to greet them.

"How was the trip?" Kitty asked.

Rogue yawned.

"Tiring. You wouldn't think sitting around for hours doing nothing would be tiring, but there you go," she replied. "How have you two been?"

"Good," Kitty replied. "It's been eerie here with the mansion all quiet."

"I'm sure it has."

"How was Disney?"

"It was fun," Rogue replied. "I'm sorry you guys couldn't come with."

"Oh well," Kitty shrugged. "Another year. When Meredith is old enough to appreciate it."

"Sounds like a good plan to me."

* * *

"What the..." Emma said as her eyes fell on the noticeboard.

There was a number of photos up from the trip to Disney World. Amongst them was a photo of her with Gambit, who was holding a white mouse ear hat down on her head. Gambit was grinning like a fool and there was a most unattractive expression on her own face. Emma pursed her lips and snatched the photo from the board. It simply wouldn't do to have everyone seeing her like that. Not one bit.

She did have to smile though, when she saw another picture of Storm, Logan, X-23, Kendall and Rogue all wearing ear hats. Logan was holding Kendall on his lap and while he looked—well, _everyone _looked—completed ridiculous in those hats, Emma had to admit Kendall did look very cute.

* * *

The rest of the summer went by without much incident, and with both the beginning of the school year and Rogue and Gambit's fast upcoming wedding, this got hectic. The usual pre-school starting activities began: cleaning classrooms and unused bedrooms in preparation for the return of the students; making sure they had all the workbooks and resources required, and ensuring equipment unused over the summer was still in working order. On top of that, the last arrangements for the wedding to be sorted, fittings, flowers, food. Gambit decided he was going to take on the moving process into their new bedroom in the new section of the teacher's wing, across the hall from Kitty and Pete. Storm observed some further renovations may need to be made to accommodate growing families, although right now what they had was adequate.

Gambit's second eighteenth birthday arrived and in keeping with tradition, Rogue presented him with a floppy present that could only be a funny shirt.

"You know the best thing about this, Roguey?" Gambit said as he pulled away the wrapping paper.

"What's that, Remy?" Rogue asked.

"Even though I know I'm going to get a funny shirt, it's still a surprise because I don't know what funny shirt it's going to be," he said with a grin.

"That's true," Rogue replied with a laugh.

Paint watched eagerly from her seat while Gambit unfolded the shirt. He snorted with laughter as he read what it said and held it up for everyone to see:

_I'm not 44!  
I'm 18 with  
26 years experience_

"They only made 'em in 40 and 50," Rogue said with a grin. "Paint was kind enough to humour me."

"Merci," Gambit replied. "And merci to you too, Paint. This is just great."

"And so true," Rogue teased him.


	72. The Big Day

**Chapter 71: The Big Day**

Aimee peered through the car window at Xaviers as they approached.

"Nice place," she said.

The car pulled up at the driveway and at the same time the front door burst open.

"Henri!" Gambit exclaimed. "About time you got here, mon frère. I thought you'd gotten lost."

"Very funny," Henri replied. "So this is the Xavier Institute, hein? I—'Ro! Long time, no see."

"Hi Henri," Storm replied as she approached with Kendall on her hip.

"And this must be Kendall," Mercy said, quickly closing the distance. "Well, isn't she the precious thing?"

"Yes she is," Storm agreed. "Now don't tell me these are Sebastien and Aimee? You two have certainly grown a lot since I last saw you."

"It's only been five years," Aimee said. "Oh Remy, I got my Mastery."

"Of course you did," Gambit replied with a teasing grin. "That was a given."

"Come on in," said Storm, gesturing to the front door with her free hand. "We'll show you to your rooms. All meals are served in the dining hall. I'm sure Remy'll show you the way, but it's not hard to find."

The LeBeaus collected their bags—Gambit helped by taking Jean Luc's—and they followed Storm inside.

"Of course, school is still on this week, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't bother anyone while they're in class," Storm went on. "And while I'm sure you'll have no problems bypassing security—"

"They had better have problems," Gambit piped up, "seeing as how I helped design it."

"—I'd appreciate it if you advised the office when you go on and off campus," Storm continued as if Gambit hadn't interrupted, "for safety reasons."

"Like fire?" Aimee suggested mischievously. "Or someone blowing up a desk?"

Sebastien snickered as Gambit pulled a face at her.

"Exactly," Storm agreed, hiding her smile.

* * *

"And then," Tabitha went on as she headed out to the pool with Angelica, "she had the nerve to—well hellooo there, tall, dark and handsome."

Sebastien glanced up from where he'd left his towel on the pool chair at the newcomers. Gambit was already in the water. Sebastien smirked slightly as Tabitha ran her eyes over his body.

"Bonjour," said Sebastien.

"Bonjour yourself," Tabitha replied as she sauntered over. "I love the tattoo. Very sexy."

"Thank you," Sebastien said as Tabitha took it upon herself to feel him up—ahem—further inspect the tattoo.

"Sebby put that fille down," said Gambit. "You don't know where she's been."

"Ha yeah," Angelica teased as she put down her towel. "She's probably diseased."

Sebastien snickered, pulled away from Tabitha and dived into the pool.

"Gee," Tabitha said. "With friends like mine, who needs enemies?"

* * *

"Hi boys," Aimee said saucily as she came up behind the group and put her hands on Jimmy and Artie's shoulders. "Didja miss me?"

"Aimee, hi," Jimmy replied.

"Nah," Artie said. "We didn't miss you one bit."

"Aww, I'm sad now," Aimee replied. "Who're your friends?"

"This is James, and this is Risque," Jimmy said. "Guys this is Aimee. Remy's, umm, cousin."

"I like to think of Remy as my cousin," Aimee put in cheerfully. "For one thing, it's less weird. For another thing, Oncle Remy's supposed to be dead. Have to keep up the charade now, don't we? By the way, I have a very important question."

"Yeah?" asked Jimmy.

"Are all mutants above average height?" Aimee asked seriously. "Or is it just at Xavier's that everyone's at least six inches taller than me?"

* * *

"So," said Henri, looking around at the room that Rogue and Gambit would be moving into. "This is it."

"Oui," Gambit replied, sitting down on the queen waterbed. "Actually, I've been thinking about maybe moving into the boathouse. It's not like actually being used for boats or anything."

Henri chuckled. In addition to the waterbed, there were a couple of side tables, the television, a wallk-in wardrobe in between the ensuite and a smaller room which could be used for their first baby—or junk. A large bookshelf for Rogue's collection of books and magazines stood firm next to the window, and beside it the DVD cabinet. On the other side of the window was their desk, with a set of shelves on top. There was a small stereo and their collection of CDs sitting besides the minifridge, which was next to Gambit's side table.

"Anyway, as you can see, I'm not quite done yet but I'm getting there," Gambit went on. "Rogue doesn't know about the waterbed yet though."

"My lips are sealed," Henri replied with a smirk. "Those must be all her books."

"Oui," Gambit confirmed. "One of these days I'm going to have to go through them and find out just what exactly she's reading."

"But that would mean you'd actually have to read, Remy," Henri teased him.

"I know," Gambit replied. "Maybe I'll find out why Rogue seems to enjoy it so much."

* * *

The following days passed quickly and only a couple of days before the wedding, a car pulled up at Xavier's gates. Gambit responded to Angelica's summons and let the new arrivals in.

"Emil! Etienne! Theo!" Gambit exclaimed. "Well, isn't this a surprise? I didn't think that...Tante Mattie?"

"Close your mouth, Remy," Tante Mattie replied, "before you start catching flies."

"I'm just... Have you ever even left N'Awlins before?" Gambit asked. "Not that I'm complaining by any means..."

"Like I'd really miss out on your wedding day," Tante Mattie replied. "And of course I've been out of New Orleans before, child."

Gambit chuckled.

"As far as our families know, we're on a job," Theoren said.

"Isn't this fun?" Emil joked. "Haven't been so sneaky in years."

"Yeah..." Etienne said with a smirk. "Sneaking out to go to a wedding. That's something to be proud of."

Gambit laughed heartily.

"So, don't mean to interrupt—" Angelica began.

"Have you ever noticed that people who start off with the words 'don't mean to interrupt' end up interrupting anyway?" asked Emil.

"I'm guessing you probably want to know where your rooms are," Angelica went on and handed a paper over to Gambit.

"I will show them the way," Gambit declared. "And then we can catch up with everyone else. Hey, we've got the bachelor party on tonight."

"Oh this should be good," Etienne said.

* * *

Rogue looked up as the door to her room opened.

"Hi Rogue," Jubilee said with a decidedly wicked gleam in her eye.

Rogue raised an eyebrow, a little perturbed at the giggling that was going on at the group with Jubilee, which consisted of Tracy, Tabitha, Angelica, Betsy and Aimee.

"We're here to get you ready for your bachelorette party," Tabitha informed her gleefully.

"I'm pretty sure I can dress myself just fine," Rogue drawled.

"Yeah, that's what you think," Tabitha replied.

* * *

To say Rogue was Not Impressed when she emerged from her room half an hour later, dressed up in a yellow dress she had in the back of her wardrobe, boots and worse, the most outrageous make up job she'd ever been given. She was also wearing her tiara (now that was something that was getting a surprising amount of use!).

From Xaviers, Rogue, Tracy, Jubilee, Tabitha, Angelica, Betsy and Aimee met up with Kitty, Storm, Emma, Mercy and Evelyn and headed out to dinner. After that, the party made their way to—

"A strip club?" Rogue exclaimed. "You have to be kidding me."

"Nope," Jubilee said gleefully. "This is gonna be fu-un!"

"But...but isn't there an age limit on these places?" Rogue questioned, even as she was herded towards the doors.

"Yep, eighteen," Tabitha replied.

"Ah ha! Aimee's only seventeen," Rogue pointed out triumphantly.

"Actually, tonight I'm twenty-two," Aimee replied cheerfully.

"They won't believe that," Rogue said.

"Please," Aimee scorned. "You think I haven't done this before?"

"Oh really?" drawled Mercy.

"You didn't hear me say that," Aimee said quickly.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another strip club a couple of blocks away, Gambit was with Henri, Emil, Etienne, Theoren, Logan, Bobby, Pete, Warren, Sam, Hank and Trey. Gambit was finding Hank's embarrassment at being there far more entertaining than the strippers.

"Not long now, eh Squeaky," Logan observed as he put down his beer.

"Not long at all," Gambit agreed. "Are you going to persist on calling me 'Squeaky' forever?"

"It's entirely possible," Logan replied with a smirk.

"Well, I suppose if you have to, Dad," Gambit said.

Logan growled and Gambit chuckled.

"You take care of Rogue," Logan said. "You take good care of her."

"I wouldn't even consider doing anything less, mon ami," Gambit replied seriously. "She's everything to me."

"So she should be," Logan responded gruffly. "Why are we even here, anyway? You are aware of what's going to happen."

"What?" Gambit asked. "Our friends are going to drink themselves silly and tip themselves out of pocket? Then you, Hank and I being the only sober ones left at the end of the night will be stuck taking them home? The thought had occurred to me."

Logan looked at Gambit thoughtfully, then glanced over at Hank.

"I wonder what the furball is like drunk?" Logan mused, stroking his chin.

"I don't know, mon ami," Gambit said slyly. "But I bet it'll be fun to find out."

* * *

The day of the wedding arrived and all gathered at the church for the big day. Rogue had changed her mind about having Kendall as a flower girl, and as the music began, the two-and-a-half year old was first down the aisle in a pretty green dress with a white bear in her arms. She walked down slowly at first, looking around at everyone and all the pretty decorations. Then she spotted her mother kneeling at the end and ran the rest of the way as fast as her little legs would carry her. There was some chuckling as Storm picked Kendall up.

When Kendall was halfway down the aisle, Aimee stepped through the doors. Her dress was the same deep green as Kendall's dress, strapless and floor-length. In her hands was a bouquet of white roses. Kitty followed suit, as did Jubilee not long thereafter. They each stopped opposite their respective partners; Jimmy, Bobby and Henri.

Gambit caught his breath as Rogue stepped through the doorway with Logan beside her, their arms linked. The white fabric wrapped around her body, neatly showing off all those curves he loved so much and hinted at her cleavage. The skirt flared out from her mid-thigh and grazed the floor. A single short sleeve sat over her right shoulder. She held a mixed bouquet of white and red roses. Her brown hair was braided down her back and her white streak was woven under and around her tiara.

Logan walked with Rogue down the aisle, wondering if it was going to be this hard with Rogue, how much worse was it going to be with Kendall? He decided he didn't want to think about Kendall growing up right now.

They finally got to the end and Logan joined Rogue and Gambit's hands together. Logan gave a nod to Kurt and then turned to sit down with Storm and Kendall while Rogue passed her bouquet to Jubilee. Gambit couldn't have taken his eyes off Rogue even if he wanted to.

"Dearly beloved," said Kurt as the music faded away. "We are gathered here today..."

Gambit was pretty sure that Kurt was saying all sorts of wonderful things about love and marriage that he probably should be listening to, but all he could focus on was his beautiful bride. They said their "I do"s and then Henri came forth with the wedding rings, which were exchanged as expected. Then came the part that Gambit was really looking forward to:

"You may now kiss the bride," said Kurt.

Rogue's giggle at the sight of Gambit's eyes glowing was stifled by his lips meeting hers. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and kissed her just long enough to entice Tabitha to shout "Get a room!" Which, given this was Tabitha, didn't take very long.

"May I present Remy and Rogue LeBeau," Kurt finished.

Applause followed and Remy took hold of Rogue's tattooed left arm in his as Jubilee passed her bouquet back to her. They started their walk back down the aisle, both grinning. Jubilee followed, linking arms with Henri, Bobby and Kitty behind her, Jimmy and Aimee behind them and finally, Storm, Logan, Kendall and the rest of the LeBeaus.

* * *

The signing of the register, innumerable photos and a car drive later and everyone finally made it to the reception. There wasn't much time for mingling after everyone found their seats before the entree was served. Finally after the main course, Jubilee stood with the first of the speeches.

"All right so," Jubilee said, beaming. "This is so cool. I get to make a speech. Okay, so first of all, I have to say, it's about time, because we all knew you two were going to get together way, way before you actually did. Seriously, if there was ever a couple made for each other, it's you two."

She rambled on a bit longer, but that was the sum of her speech. Henri was the next to stand.

"Rogue," he said, "you, ma chère fille, have accomplished what I never thought anyone would accomplish: pinning this guy down the floor. I'm serious when I say I think it's a miracle."

Rogue giggled and Gambit pulled a face at Henri.

"I wish you the greatest happiness in your life to come," Henri went on, "and I also apologise to you for what I'm going to do next. You see, five years ago I spoke at Remy's, ahem, funeral."

Gambit snickered.

"And much to my embarrassment, he chose a highly inappropriate song to be played," Henri said, giving Gambit a dire look.

"I thought it was very appropriate," Gambit replied with a big grin on his face.

"I'm sure you did," Henri drawled. "And if our DJ wouldn't mind putting on the song I gave him earlier, Remy, I'd just like to say, you're not the only one who can pick appropriate inappropriate music. Oh, and by the way, this is even funnier if you exchange 'Texas' with 'Louisiana' and 'Tennessee' with 'New York'."

There was no hiding the smirk on Henri's face as the country song by George Strait began to play, opening with the chorus:

_All my ex's live in Texas  
And Texas is a place I'd dearly love to be  
But all my ex's live in Texas  
And that's why I hang my hat in Tennessee_

Rogue's face was a mix of horror and amusement. Gambit just looked at his smug brother with a cynical look on his face while the rest of the song played. Three minutes later, the song came to the close with its final lines:

_Some folks think I'm hidin',  
It's been rumoured that I died,  
But I'm alive and well in Tennessee._

Gambit burst out laughing.

"To Rogue and Remy," said Henri, holding up his glass.

Everyone joined in on the toast.

"I suspect," Rogue said dryly as she stood to make her own speech, "that Remy's ex's span a lot further than Texas, but we won't go there. Remy, the first time I saw you, you were this old, old man. An old, old man who hit on me, which was kinda creepy at the time. Like being being flirted with by a grandfather."

Gambit snorted.

"We became fast friends, you and I, and I... I'm not really sure when I started thinking of you more than that, I just..." Rogue paused and smiled fondly at her new husband. "You were there for me even when things got rough, and you put up with me when I was being stupid. You joined me in all the good times. You _showed_ me some good times..."

Gambit chuckled wickedly.

"I love you," she finished, holding up her glass, "and I wouldn't want to spend my life with anyone else. To Remy."

After that toast but before Rogue could sit down, Gambit stood and took her hands in his.

"Roguey," he said seriously. "There are no words which can adequately express just how much I love you. So I'm not even going to try."

In one swift motion, Gambit moved one of his hand to the back of her neck and kissed her passionately.

"Awwwww."

"Get a room!"

"That's not a speech!"

Gambit pulled away, grinned at Rogue and lifted his glass.

"To ma belle chérie," he said, "who has filled the gaping void in my life I thought no one ever would."

Rogue smiled as everyone drank to the toast.

The cutting of the cake and dessert came not long after. For their bridal dance, Rogue and Gambit danced the rumba, although a slightly less risque version as Rogue's dress didn't exactly allow her optimal leg movement. After their song finished, they were joined on the dance floor by Bobby and Jubilee, Mercy and Henri, Kitty and Pete and Aimee and Jimmy. Jimmy and Jubilee both had minimal dance training previously, but Rogue had made sure that they each had time to learn how to waltz before the big day.

The night began to draw to a close and before they departed—a limo outside waiting for the newlyweds—Rogue stood on the stage and all the single women came close.

"Ready girls?" she asked them.

Not waiting for an answer, Rogue turned her back, stopped for a moment, then threw the bouquet over her head. She turned back around just in time to see Betsy with the bouquet and an astonished expression on her face. Afterwards someone would tease her about using telekinesis (Betsy denied cheating).

"So, Warren," Gambit began in a teasing tone to the winged mutant.

"Stop right there," Warren replied darkly.

Gambit chuckled wickedly.

Rogue stepped down off the stage and Gambit took her hand. Everyone starting calling "good night" and "good trip" and waved as they walked out the door. The chauffeur held open the door for them and Gambit got in first to save Rogue the necessity of having to scoot across the seat in her dress. As the door closed, Gambit looked lovingly at Rogue and cupped her face in his hand.

"Who would have thought five years ago that we'd be married?" he asked.

Rogue kissed his lips softly as the limo started off.

"Not me," she replied, her green eyes gazing into his red and black ones. "But I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

**AN:**

coup fatal suggested Tabby falling for someone, like one of Remy's cousins or Sebastien - well, I felt it was a little late in the story for that to happen, but the idea of Tabby flirting with Sebby did amuse me.

Chica De Los Ojos Cafe suggested the bachelor/bachelorette parties (she also wanted the bachelor party to be lame, just so they could be irked the girls had a better time than they did, hehe).

ruroca57 wanted Logan and Remy to have a heart to heart.

The song Henri played is actually _called_ "All my ex's live in Texas".


	73. Epilogue

**Epilogue:**

Come December, Rogue was very excited to tell Gambit that she was pregnant. Gambit looked at her for a moment and simply replied:

"See? I told you I wasn't sterile."

After Rogue told him off for being a buzz kill, they celebrated accordingly. Of course Emil, Etienne, Theoren and even Henri weren't above making jokes about this being a miracle baby.

Mignonette and Sebastien did indeed enjoy a big, showy kiss at the Guild Christmas party. Bella Donna said not a word in response. She merely lifted her knife and threw it with her legendary precision between their heads. Mignonette laughed it off, but Sebastien was quite pale for the rest of the evening. Gambit approved.

Angelica and Sam broke up after almost three years. Angelica cited Sam's inability to commit and Sam accused her of being irrational. Sam was later seen in Tabitha's company.

Interestingly enough, Betsy and Warren really were the next ones to get married. This was much to his parents' disapproval once they found out who his new bride was. Worthington Senior was not at all happy about the idea of someone who tried to kill him becoming his daughter-in-law. Nevertheless, despite their predictable, negative response, Warren stood by his decision. He had no desire to hide Betsy from them as if he was ashamed of her or something.

The following July, Rogue had a baby boy with red-on-black eyes. She let Gambit get away with naming him "Remy Etienne LeBeau the Third".

Jimmy began to study counselling after graduating. He also began working with the new school counsellor, and also Rogue, Hank and Emma in helping new mutants learn how to control their powers.

After she hit eighteen, Aimee began travelling around the world, doing heists and building up her reputation as a Master Thief. From time to time, packages would show up at Xaviers, usually addressed to Gambit, but occasionally to Jimmy and Artie with souvenirs.

Storm and Kitty both had their second pregnancies at the same time, and gave birth within two weeks of each other to three baby boys. Yes, three; Storm had twins.

Squidboy decided the best way to respond to Evelyn and Trey dating was to pretend that nothing was going on. He was greatly relieved that he lived in the boys wing and thus it was rather easy to deny that anything romantic was happening between his mother and his history teacher. Storm wouldn't let him drop history.

The Cuckoos arrived from Muir Island and Emma finally met her genetic daughters. Anyone who may have been anticipating an emotional meeting was most disappointed.

Jones decided to study film and television at University, and hopes to promote mutant acceptance in his future projects.

Logan and X-23 started going on father/daughter trips. Many wondered where they went and what they did. No one was brave enough to ask.

A couple of weeks before Gambit's twentieth birthday, he became the father of a second son, whom he and Rogue named Olivier. Like his brother, Olivier had his father's eyes, but—they saw later when it started growing out—his mother's hair.

Paint became a fan of gothic romance novels and took to 'painting' her favourite scenes on canvas. She would spend hours getting every single detail just right, and all those who viewed the exquisite final product couldn't help but admire her attention to detail. One of Paint's favourites was a picture of the rusalka from Pyro's book, whose vibrant green eyes were modelled after Rogue's. Rogue never told her about Pyro's letter.

Jubilee, finding herself surrounded by so many toddlers, started feeling a bit clucky. Thus one day she confronted Bobby, informed him she wanted to be a mother before she hit thirty and then demanded to know what he was going to do about it.

Jubilee's first pregnancy coincided with Rogue's third (you've made your point Gambit). Rogue was not at all impressed when she found out she was pregnant again only four days before her twenty-first birthday, therefore having to put off her long-planned bar hopping with Logan yet again.

During the last three years since Rogue and Gambit married, Rogue developed the ability to use the other powers she had imprinted on cue, not just Gambit's. On his twenty-first birthday, Rogue presented Gambit with an adamantium staff, using the adamantium they had collected from Stryfe (which had been sitting in storage this whole time) and Magneto's powers. Gambit was delighted. Henri was just impressed Gambit had managed to keep his steel staff intact for eight whole years.

* * *

**End!**

I can't believe it's over. *hugs it* I'm gonna miss you!

I hope you guys enjoyed this story as much as I did writing it. A huge thanks to everyone who reviewed; your feedback means a great deal to me and I truly appreciate it.

Quite a number of people put in requests. I kept notes, but it's entirely possible that I put in a request and forgot to credit it, or else, I was already planning on doing it and therefore didn't mention it someone's interest in that happening. There were also a number of good ideas that I would have loved to have used, but simply didn't fit in. I still have my notes though, so you never know, maybe they'll get used in another story.

I'm going to be taking some time out to catch up on some other writing I've gotten behind on *shifty eyes*. Please check out my profile page for my list of upcoming stories. There is no ETA at this time (other than the X-men Presents series) as I'm not sure how long it'll take me to catch up on my other writing.

Thanks again everyone, and to conclude, I give you this list of all the funny shirts that appeared. All these shirts really do exist (scary, I know).

**Remy's shirts**

"Remember my name, you'll be screaming it later"

_"Boobies make me smile"_

"I Love Sex Education"

_"I'm Naked! Under my clothes."_

[picture of double bunk] "I like it on top"

_"It's only a Gambling Problem if I'm Losing"_

"Bomb Squad. If you see me running, you'd better catch up."

_"I do BAD things"_

"I'm not 44!  
I'm 18 with  
26 years experience"

**Rogue's shirts**

"You've been a Naughty Boy. Go to My Room"

_"Yes! But not with you"_

"Everyone's Entitled to be Stupid, but You've Abused the Privilege"

_"CHARM  
Will Only Get You So Far  
After that you'd better have a big dick"_

"Southern Girl. You're messin' with the Wrong Woman" [picture of guns, lip stick, cards, rose]

_"You're just jealous that the voices talk to me!"_

"(insert witty phrase here)"

**Logan's shirts**

"Training to be a Cage Fighter"

_"D.A.D.D  
Dad's against Daughters Dating"_

**Aimee's shirt**

"I Only Look Sweet and Innocent"


End file.
